Familiar Faces
by playing-in-the-mud
Summary: 2 years after the disappearance of Kurosaki Ichigo, Rukia finds an orange-haired boy. The only differences between him and Ichigo are that he lives in the Rukongai, has no memory of past life, and is 12-years-old… Is he really Ichigo? From Daricio's fanfc
1. Prologue:  Welcome to the 78th District

**Hello everyone! Allow me to explain a few things about this fanfic. **

**The original idea came from Daricio's fanfic and it was put up for adoption. Several people have done continuations of this story, but as far as I know, no one has finished one yet, so I will try it myself. I make no promises about not abandoning it (although I would hope I'm not mean enough to do that), but I will try my best to finish this fanfic. **

**The prologue is completely mine, the next few chapters are Daricio's (with some of my own editing), and there will be some similar scenes taken from Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet's fanfic. **

**This is NOT a continuation of Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet's fanfic. I only base a few things off of that fanfic. (In my opinion, Anne Camp's story is way better than mine so you should go check it out. Link is at the bottom.)**

**Don't worry I have already asked both of them for their permission to use their ideas for this story. **

**Some warnings: There are some changes between Daricio's fanfic and mine. This is rated T for probable violence in the future. This is also slightly AU (you will see Ichigo became a captain, reasons will be explained later). Some OC will come up in Ichigo's character but that is because of memory loss. There are some OCs in here but it will focus mainly on Ichigo and Rukia. **

**Summary: Two years after the disappearance of Kurosaki Ichigo, Rukia finds an orange-haired boy. The only differences between him and Kurosaki-taichou are that he lives in the Rukongai, has no memory of his former life, and is twelve-years-old… Is he really the Kurosaki Ichigo that Rukia remembers? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, and I don't even really own this story.**

**I hope you all enjoy my rendition of "Familiar Faces."**

**Prologue – Welcome to the 78****th**** District**

"Hey! Give it back!"

Shuu whirled around angrily when the small, precious sack had been ripped out of his hands. The Rukongai boy had raised his fists with the intention of attacking the thieves, but then his limp, dirty face paled when he realized who his adversaries were.

The older, taller boy smirked down, holding the sack mockingly just out of the Shuu's reach.

"Watcha going to do about it if I don't?" the older one sneered.

Shuu gulped instantly taking in that he was currently surrounded by a small band of five older, meaner looking Rukongai boys. They were well-known, at least well-known to the other children street rats. Out of necessity for survival, the children of the Rukongai created groups, loose-tied "families." And the five in front of Shuu now were part of one of the biggest and strongest groups in the 78th district.

"Give it back, Gorou," Shuu repeated weakly, addressing the boy who held the sack.

The sack itself was nothing special—just a small brown bag with a simple leather tie. But what was inside the sack might have been gold itself. The people of Rukongai did not need to eat. It was rare, especially in the 78th district, that anybody would have a significant amount of spiritual pressure to make them hungry—hunger was a foreign subject for the majority of the Rukongai population, but taste certainly wasn't.

Every couple months, someone in Shuu's "family" might be lucky enough to steal a bit of candy; this month he had directed two of the younger kids to distract the vendor long enough for him to snag a decent sized bag.

He had _earned_ that bag, and despite the unfavorable odds, he wasn't about to back down.

Gorou turned to his other four companions. "Give it back," he whined in a bad imitation of Shuu's voice.

The exploding laughter only served to make Shuu's anger flare up and make him think irrationally.

"I said, 'Give it back!'" he nearly shouted.

He lunged at the older boy, reaching for the treasured sack.

Gorou and his friends were startled by the sudden outburst and clumsy attack, but Gorou easily side-stepped anyways.

"Aww," Gorou said. "Is Baby sad that his bag got taken away?" The older boy waved the sack in front of Shuu's face and then snatched it back when the younger boy's hand had lashed out, just brushing the bag.

The five boys laughed again, and with a subtle signal from Gorou, they spread out until Shuu was surrounded.

"You're one of Takeo's kids, aren't cha?" Gorou asked.

Shuu had gotten paler when he realized that he was currently unable to escape, let alone get his sack back.

"Ya," he announced, trying to sound more confident then he felt. "So you should give it back unless you want him to—"

"To do what?" another boy scoffed. "He's not here right now anyways."

"You got anything else, kid?" another with a tattered blue yukata asked. He stepped forward, clearly intending to search Shuu for any more hidden items.

Shuu felt a flash of anger and launched himself at the boy.

Not expecting the attack, the boy in blue found a diminutive fist connect with his jaw.

"Ow! You little—"

Shuu didn't get a chance to hear the end of the sentence (not that he would anyways) because the world around him became a flurry of shouts and sharp jabs. Desperately, the younger boy put up his hands, trying to defend himself. Kicks and rough hands flew around Shuu's body, making it impossible to avoid the coming bruises.

When his assailers finally backed off, Gorou asked, "Did he have anything else?"

The three that had attacked Shuu shook their heads.

Shuu felt weak and a particularly hard kick in the gut had made him fall to his knees.

"Give it back," the boy in the dirt persisted, gasping in pain.

Gorou stared down at the boy who had collapsed from his injuries, slightly annoyed by his stubbornness.

"Rokuro, how's your jaw," Gorou inquired.

Rokuro glanced at his leader still rubbing his sore mouth, but then dropped the hand when he found nothing wrong with it. "Fine," he grunted.

Gorou nodded to the prone figure in the dust. "Finish this and let's go."

Rokuro grinned wickedly, glad for chance for revenge.

Cracking his knuckles, Rokuro walked slowly up to the crouched figure.

Shuu squeezed his eyes shut and tried to make himself less of a target by curling the rest of his body tightly into himself. His rapid breath stirred the dust beneath him, and he braced himself for the punishment.

"You're going to pay you disgusting—"

Whatever Rokuro was going to say was cut off by a startled yelp and the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

Still petrified but overcome by curiosity, Shuu chanced a look upwards, fearing the worse. A flash of orange caught his eye, and he had to crane his head upwards to get a good look at it. Confused, Shuu realized it was a tousled mop of dirty hair. Shuu stared at the brilliant shock of orange before he allowed himself to observe the rest of the owner.

It was a boy. He looked twelve maybe older, maybe younger. It was hard to tell in the Soul Society where people never aged, or did so at a slow pace. Besides his hair, he looked like a normal street rat from the streets of the 78th district. He was dressed in rags, had dirt smudged all over his body, and his body spoke of the harsh life in the 78th district.

The second thing Shuu found interesting about the boy was his lean body. He definitely looked like a fighter. He, as a whole, looked rundown like all residents of the 78th district, but something about the way he held himself and the physical strength that was quite obvious would easily make other kids back off immediately.

Finally, Shuu allowed himself to look at the boy's face. It was livid. The boy had a hard scowl etched on his face and his topaz eyes gleamed dangerously.

For the first time since he ran into Gorou and his gang, Shuu felt a twinge of relief as he realized that anger was not directed at him, but rather at the leader who still held the precious sack.

With a foot firmly planted on Rokuro's head so that the older boy was currently eating dust, the orange-haired anomaly said, "Oi! The kid said, 'Give it back.'"

The brown eyes bored into Gorou's, making the teenager take an unconscious step back, but he caught himself and began to swing the bag around confidently. "What's up with you?" he sneered. "That's the most ridiculous hair I've ever seen. Do you dye it that stupid color?"

The scowl on the boy's face deepened and he pressed down harder of Rokuro's head so that it buried itself deeper into the dirt. Rokuro started to struggle against the other boy's weight and foot, but it didn't change his situation.

"No, baka. This is the color of my hair," the boy replied, a dangerous tone in hit voice.

Gorou either didn't notice the angry looks or just didn't care. He instead started laughing as if the orange-haired boy had said something hilarious. The rest of the gang (minus Rokuro) joined in.

"That's sucks for you," Gorou snorted. "With hair like that, you're bound to get beat up a lot in a place like this." He grinned cruelly and stepped forward, tying the sack securely to his sash. "For example…"

Taking their leader's cue, the rest of the boys began to encircle the orange anomaly. The boy simply continued standing on Rokuro's head. The only change being the deepening scowl.

Shuu scrambled to his feet and prepared to bolt, but then looked back guiltily at the boy that had saved him from a serious beating. Despite his fear, Shuu hovered at the edge of the fight, tense in case he needed to scurry away when things turned ugly.

Gorou was the first to lunge, running forward with his fist out in front. Unfortunately, with his hand outstretched, his body weight was unbalanced, so Shuu watched in amazement as the orange-haired boy grabbed Gorou's hands and used his momentum to send him into the wall right behind him.

There was a sickening thud that made the other boys pause as their leader bounced off the wall and landed in a winded heap on the floor.

Shuu heard a mumbled curse before the other three boys let out ferocious yells and charged together.

Leaping off Rokuro, the orange-haired boy met the three others. The unknown boy leaped and dodged and hit with amazing speed and grace. Gorou's gang, in comparison, tripped over themselves and never managed to land a hit on the other. After recovering from their embarrassing defeats, Gorou and Rokuro eventually joined in, but the added two made little difference.

"Sugoi…" Shuu said to himself as the boy threw another boy into the wall, causing it to splinter.

_Crack!_

Shuu instinctively flinched at that sound. It was a familiar noise that usually was associated with some sort of punishment, but fortunately, it was not directed at him this time.

"Takeo!" Shuu exclaimed at the appearance of his "family" leader.

Takeo grinned at Shuu before swinging his rod again. The teenager wielded a crude staff. It had no specific markings and wasn't even balanced, but its smooth surface showed years of used and the hard wood never failed to do its job.

_Crack!_

Rokuro yelped as his already bruised head met the wraith of Takeo's staff. Together, Takeo and the orange-haired boy pushed back the five as if they had practiced every move together.

The boy would strike out hard and then retreat so that the five could receive the blunt edge of Takeo's rod in their vital spots, and then the process would begin again. Lash out. Retreat. _Crack! _Repeat.

In no time, the five were winded and wary to begin attacking again.

"Takeo," Gorou spat out as if it left a fowl taste in his mouth.

Takeo let the staff rest against his shoulders. "I don't think it's very fair to have five against one," he said casually, clearly unperturbed by the other's display of aggression.

"Then don't let one of your own wander on out territory or else you know what will happen," Gorou returned, fuming.

"Last I checked, we're all poor together. Nobody owns the streets of the 78th district, least of all you," Takeo retaliated, letting a bit of a bite harden his words.

"Just don't let me catch him here again," Gorou nearly shouted, trying to retain as much dignity as possible, but this attempt failed when the Takeo stood to his full height and took a threatening step forward, making all five flinch.

"I'm warning you," Gorou said weakly, seeming smaller now. He sent one last glare at all three of his adversaries before he and his gang retreated into the alley.

"Takeo!" Shuu said again, relief evident in his voice. He ran over to his leader.

"Glad to see you're okay Shuu," the teen said, ruffling the smaller boy's hair. Turning to the stranger, Takeo observed the younger boy, taking in his scowl, strange hair, and well-muscled body. "Thanks for helping Shuu. Name's Takeo."

The boy grunted, not offering any information about himself.

Abruptly, the kid turned away, showing that his time with them was over, but then stopped. He reached inside his dirty clothes and threw something in Shuu's direction.

Out of reflex, Shuu's hand darted out to meet the projectile, and he blinked in surprise when he found himself holding the unharmed, precious sack. Shuu look back and forth between the bag and the boy, mouth slightly ajar. When had the boy managed to sneak the sack away from Gorou?

"A-arigato," the boy finally managed, giving a small bow that seemed somewhat odd coming from a Rukongai street rat thief.

The boy merely grunted and began walking away again.

"Oi!" Takeo called out, making the boy stop and look back. "You got any where to stay tonight?"

The mysterious boy shrugged, wary of what was coming next.

"We got a place. Come on." Not waiting to see if the boy followed or not, Takeo turned and walked the opposite direction the boy was about to take.

Shuu looked back at the boy, still holding the treasure close to his body. The boy looked momentarily confused, unused to Takeo's easy-going nature. Eventually curiosity won over and, with a shrug, he followed after the teen.

Shuu didn't miss Takeo's victorious grin when the boy's footsteps fell in sync with their own.

"Got a name kid?" Takeo asked amiably.

"Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo."

**Ichigo's POV**

For the second time that day, Ichigo was pissed.

The sound of offending laughter resounded down the filthy streets of the 78th district. That laughter was directed at a certain orange-haired anomaly. Again.

Ichigo felt a vein throb as he sent a scowl at the older boy—Takeo—that was currently finding his name quite hilarious. The younger boy—was it Shuu?—looked at Ichigo like he was crazy for having the audacity to have said that. Between the laughs and the weird looks, the orange-haired boy was now wondering at the wisdom of randomly taking the teen's invitation.

"Nice one kid," the teen said, still chuckling. "What's really your name?"

Once again, the anger flared. Why didn't anybody believe him today? First the other boy about his hair. And now his name.

"That is my name," he growled.

Catching the serious tone in his voice, Takeo glanced dubiously at the orange-haired kid. "That can't be your name. Kurosaki is the name of the greatest Shinigami ever and you're not him."

"I never said I was him," Ichigo said, scowling. "Who is '_him'_ anyways?"

His question was met with two disbelieving looks.

"You don't know about Kurosaki-taichou?" Shuu squeaked. Ichigo shot the younger boy a glare, causing him to shut his mouth and focus on just walking.

"You must be new if you've never heard of him. We may live in the 78th district, but even we have heard about the famous Kurosaki-taichou. How long have you been here anyways?" Takeo inquired.

"Dunno. Few weeks I guess." Ichigo frowned, then added, "Are you going to answer my question or not?"

Takeo gave a short laugh and then swung his rod so that it rested comfortably on his shoulder while he walked. "He's only the greatest captain ever. And he was human too!"

"A human can become a captain?" Ichigo asked. He may have only been here in the 78th district for a few weeks, but he knew a few important things.

He knew that he had died and that's why he was in the Soul Society. He knew to avoid hollows (not that many came into the 78th district anyways since the people there rarely had any significant spiritual pressure). And he knew about the Shinigami, how they were also to be avoided; they wouldn't kill you (probably) like a hollow would, but running into one might cause unwanted trouble. Those were the basics of being a resident of the Rokungai. Oh, and along with this knowledge, Ichigo also knew that humans never came into the Soul Society. There was a reason it was called "soul."

"Not really, but that's what made Kurosaki-taichou different. He was a human who gained Shinigami powers. And it wasn't just a little. He had enough spiritual energy to take down Aizen, the king of the hollows and his army," Takeo said dramatically.

"All by himself!" Shuu added for good measure. (1)

"So Kurosaki is this big captain. So what?" Ichigo said.

"Was," Takeo corrected, turning a corner.

"Was? What happened to him?" Ichigo asked.

"Dunno." Takeo shrugged and Shuu looked a little sad. "He just disappeared one day. About a few months ago, I think. From what I hear, no one's found him yet in the world of the living or the Soul Society. Eaten by hollows maybe."

Ichigo snorted. "He doesn't sound like all that great of a person to me if he was stupid enough to get caught by hollows." Shuu gasped, obviously unhappy to hear the great Kurosaki-taichou talked about so poorly. Ichigo continued, ignoring the small outburst. "So what if I have the same last name?"

"Sorry," Takeo apologized, realizing his previous laughter was somewhat uncalled for. "I just never heard of anyone else with that last name except Kurosaki-taichou. When you said your name was Kurosaki, I thought you were making a joke and saying you were a Shinigami or something. I guess it's just a coincidence that you share the same name." (2)

"Yeah, whatever," Ichigo grumbled.

"We're here," Takeo announced, stepping into a small alley.

Ichigo looked up and saw small shack, barely big enough for Takeo to not accidently hit his head against the top. It was an unimpressive structure that looked like it had been patched several time. No door was present, only a long dirty sheet stood between them and the inside. Ichigo was sure that the inside was even filthier than the outside. In short, it was a typical shack that was undoubtedly similar to the others out there housing the 78th district's thousands of unwanted kids.

Takeo drew the dirty rag aside and gestured with the end of his staff towards the entrance. "Come on in," he said like he was inviting Ichigo into an extravagant mansion.

Ichigo gave the teen a dubious look, but entered.

It was exactly how he had imagined it. Crude bunks lined the walls. About eight kids were scattered about, but there might have been more or less; it was hard to count with all of them running about, which they did surprisingly well considering the tight, cramped space. Dirt and debris were carelessly strewn about the entire space, and light leaked in through the many cracks in the ceiling.

Despite the unfavorable conditions, Ichigo noticed a sort of light feeling. He guessed that this reflected from Takeo's own personality. There was still a sense of burdening oppression that all 78th district residents possessed, but that was nearly undetectable under the friendly atmosphere all the kids seemed to emit.

"Ichigo," Takeo said, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "Meet your fellow street rats of the Rukongai's worst district."

Ichigo scowled at the arm invading his personal space but didn't make any action to remove it. He instead gave an indifferent grunt as a greeting.

The other kids stopped whatever they were doing and looked up at the stranger. Very few were around Ichigo's age, most were Shuu's apparent age, around seven or eight, but then again, in the place where time was nearly non-existent, age didn't really mean anything.

Takeo broke through the silent stares first. "Shuu, how 'bout you pass out the candy?"

Shouts were immediately heard and several bodies surged forward to tackle a flustered Shuu. Apparently, the word "candy" was a catalyst for chaos in this place.

_Crack!_

Ichigo couldn't help a slight wince as the now familiar sound echoed in the small shack. Luckily for the kids, the end of the rod had only met one of the wooden bunks and not their heads.

"Oi! One at a time! Shuu will make sure everyone gets their fair share," Takeo commanded, staring each kid right in the eyes so that his point got across. When he was finished, the natural smile spread across his face once more. He nodded to Shuu to say that he was in charge and led Ichigo to the back of the shack, his arm still around the other's shoulders.

Takeo sat down on the dirt floor and motioned for Ichigo to do the same. The boy did so apprehensively, wondering why the leader had singled him out.

"So, Ichigo. You've only been here for a few weeks, right?" Takeo began. Ichigo opened his mouth to answer, but the other boy didn't give him a chance to answer. "I assume you haven't been able to find a family yet."

Ichigo glanced up, slightly confused. "Of course I don't have a family. Not many kids in the 78th district do," he answered.

"Not that kind of family," Takeo chuckled. He gestured to the kids enjoying the precious candy and laughing together. "This kind of family. Here in the 78th, kids like us make our own families. You already saw Gorou's and this is mine."

Ichigo studied the scene across the room for a second before asking, "Are you inviting me to join your family?"

Takeo gave him a lazy smile as he leaned against the wall, his rod resting on his lap. "Ya, I guess I am. Here in the 78th district, you need a family to survive. No one survives long on their own."

"I did," Ichigo challenged.

"For a few weeks," Takeo pointed out. "I'll admit you seem to be doing pretty good right now, but how long will you be able to stand it. Certainly not for a few months, let alone years."

The silence allowed the words to sink in.

"Think about, Ichigo," Takeo said. "I think we could use you and you can use us."

"Here," a quiet voice interrupted.

Ichigo turned around to see Shuu standing over him with his hand outstretched towards him. Curious, Ichigo held out his hand and was met with a little trickle of white sugar crystals falling into his palm.

He blinked in surprise.

Takeo must have caught Ichigo's expression and nodded approvingly. "It's a thanks," he said. "If it wasn't for you Shuu would have been beaten badly and none of those kids would be enjoying those sweets right now."

Ichigo turned one crystal over with his finger before picking it up and popping it into his mouth. It was sweet as expected and filled his entire mouth with the delicious taste.

The taste seemed to lessen the dull ache in his stomach. Ichigo knew that the ache was called hunger and that normal Rukongai residents shouldn't experience hunger. The ache wasn't dire or anything, just slightly annoying at times, especially when he couldn't find anything to appease its demands.

The bit of sugar wasn't much but it helped the boy to relax a little.

A small smile appeared on his lips and Takeo's own grin widened when he saw the boy's lips turn upwards for the first time since he met him.

Ichigo let the small crystal dissolve before saying, "I'll think about it."

Takeo blinked once before realizing Ichigo was referring the offer about joining his family.

Grin widening yet again, Takeo said, "You do that, Ichigo."

**xXx**

**(Two months later)**

Ichigo glided out the poor excuse for a door. Once outside, the tattered clothe fell back into place.

The darkness of the night was increased in the small alley because of the many shadows that fell from the taller buildings.

Ichigo carried nothing. He had nothing except the clothes on his back and himself of course.

He began walking forward, not looking back at the shack behind him, but once he reached the entrance of the alley, he stopped and sat down hard on the ground. From here he could see the moon, there wasn't much out tonight, but he didn't mind. Even the tiny sliver brought back a tinge of something… a memory? It wasn't much: just a flash of pure white and a ribbon, nothing else, but it felt… nostalgic.

Ichigo sighed, running a hand through his bright hair, unsure about where his thoughts were going. Something like this would happen often. A color or a word or an object would bring unfamiliar, yet familiar feelings to the surface. Bits of information might seep in too along with these mysterious, and it made Ichigo restless. That's why he was outside in the middle of the night right now.

It was time to leave

Ichigo got up off the ground, brushing at the dirt that clung to his clothes (it didn't do much good) and took a step forward.

"That's really mean, you know. Just up and leaving like that. You're going to make some of the kids cry."

Ichigo wasn't surprised. Takeo always was a light sleeper.

He turned around so he could look at the group's leader. Brown eyes met blue.

Ichigo smirked. "Don't cry Takeo. If you do, Gorou will hear about it and come beat your sentimental butt until you don't know up from down."

Takeo chuckled at Ichigo's rather violent humor. "I was talking more along the lines of Ayame."

Ichigo frowned at the name. Over the past two month's, one of the youngest girls, Ayame, had clung to Ichigo as if he were her lifeline. The first few days of this Ichigo had scowled and cursed and threatened, but for reasons beyond his or Takeo's comprehension, the little brat had only clung harder to the orange-haired anomaly. Ichigo in return had gone from annoyed, to ignoring, to tolerating, and finally to a grudging acceptance of the girl's constant presence.

As far as Ichigo knew, he had no siblings in the Rukongai, but if he did, he would have guessed that what he felt for Ayame was pretty close to what he would feel for a younger sister. But it wasn't enough to make him stay.

"I know," Ichigo said. "You take care of her for me."

Takeo regarded the younger boy. "I was hoping you would be the one to do that," he answered, his voice devoid of his normal carefree attitude.

"I can't stay," Ichigo stated simply.

"Why?" Takeo asked, confused. "You'd never admit it, but you like it here. I can tell by the way you don't scowl as hard. The kids like you, even look up to you. And nobody survives on their own in the 78th district."

Ichigo's scowl deepened as each fact was laid down before him, but at the last statement, he interrupted, "I'm different."

He didn't know exactly where the words, or even the idea, came from, but there was a certain truth behind them. Takeo seemed to notice this too.

"I'm not convincing you to stay, am I?" he said, his voice admitting the defeat.

Ichigo shook his head so that the locks of orange shifted from side to side.

"Then at least tell me why," Takeo demanded. No accusation tinged his voice, just confusion and maybe a little hurt. He was losing a friend after all.

"I'm not really sure myself," Ichigo admitted. "This isn't right, being here I mean. I've got this restless feeling and it's not going away until I find the thing I'm looking for."

"What are you looking for, Ichigo?"

Ichigo paused before answering, "I don't know."

Takeo stood there absorbing the words and then—

_Crack!_

Ichigo yelped and sent death glares at the teen, while rubbing the newly created sore spot on his head. He really hated that stick. Takeo never went any where without it. He even slept with the stupid thing so that no one dared tried to wake him up unless it was an emergency.

"That's one of the worst excuses I've heard and I've heard a lot coming from these guys," Takeo said, jabbing a finger behind him to indicate the sleeping kids that he was talking about.

Ichigo growled and opened his mouth to shoot back a scathing remark.

"But—" Takeo said, cutting off any interruption Ichigo might have made. He smiled slightly at the wounded boy. "You have to do this."

Ichigo dropped his scowl and replaced it with a confused look.

Takeo answered the unasked question. "It's not like I control you Ichigo. That's what Gorou does with his goons and I'm definitely not going to turn out like that idiot. And don't think I haven't noticed the way you brood all the time. You were happy here, but not that happy. I'm not going to stop you. And I really doubt I could stop you even with my trusty staff."

Ichigo blinked, slightly impressed. Some adults didn't have this much sense. Actually, compared to some of the adults that Ichigo ran into in the Rukongai (figuratively and literally), Takeo might be considered a sage.

For a guy who looked like he was only in his early-teens, he sure had a lot of common sense.

"Um, thanks," Ichigo finally managed.

"Ya, well, like I said it's your choice either way," Takeo said offhandedly.

The two stood in awkward silence, unsure about how to end this conversation.

"So…" Takeo began, all previous eloquence gone, but he recovered and regained his usually good-natured attitude. "Where are you going to go?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't know. Around, I guess."

"Don't you ever have a plan, Ichigo? Or do you just always charge in head first without thinking?" Takeo laughed. (3)

Ichigo scowled again, but this one seemed a little friendlier. "Just tell the other I said bye. I'll try to visit whenever I'm nearby. I really doubt that I'm going to get really far or anything like that."

"Hey, you never know, Ichigo. Maybe you'll work your way up," Takeo said, grinning. They both knew that he was being overly optimistic. The people of the 78th district were pretty much stuck where they were. No other district would want to keep around a trouble-making street rat from the lowest division of the Rukongai.

"Take care of the others, Takeo, especially…" Ichigo trailed off. He would definitely miss Ayame, and she in return would be pretty upset. He promised her silently that he would visit whenever he got the chance.

"Ya, I will," Takeo said. "Don't die."

And with that cheery advice, Ichigo nodded and traveled out once again into the streets of the Rukongai.

**(1) Things about Ichigo would be exaggerated by story-tellers. **

**(2) The two boys only know the name "Kurosaki-taichou" and the different rumors, not his appearance or first name. **

**(3) Yep, that's what Ichigo does all the time, right?**

**Words: Oi – hey; Sugoi – Amazing; Arigato – thank you; Taichou – captain; yukata – cotton kimono; baka – stupid/idiot/fool**

**This was about 5,000 words which is pretty good compared to my other story. I'm not sure if all the chapters will turn out this long. Since I have another story going, it will be a while before I update again probably.**

**Here are the original stories:  
>Daricio: .nets/4321805/1/bFamiliar_b_bFaces_b  
><strong>**Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: .net/s/5242431/1/bFamiliar_b_bFaces_b **

**Hope you enjoyed it and feel free to tell me what you liked or didn't like. **

**~Bluesky21543**


	2. Chapter 1: Out of the Comfort Zone

**Here is chapter one. This chapter is from Daricio's fanfic but there are several changes in order to either fit my style of writing or to fit my storyline, but the overall idea is pretty much the same. **

**Answers to reviews:**

**TB: **Thanks for being my first reviewer . And don't worry, I made sure I had some idea about how I wanted to end it… the only problem is getting there…

**Zepher327: **Thank you for your review

**Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: **Thanks for the compliments. They mean a lot since I loved your story. Thanks for pointing those mistakes; I made sure to go back and change them.

**Diclaimer: I do not own Bleach.**

**Chapter 1 – Out of the Comfort Zone**

**Rukia's POV**

Kuchiki Rukia walked through the streets of Rukongai, blatantly ignoring the stares and the whispers she was drawing from its inhabitants. That was fine with her. She didn't want to be here and definitely did not want anyone to bother her at the moment.

Not that anyone would be dumb enough to try and challenge her. The traditional shihakusho already marked her as Shinigami, and the captain's haori would scare away even the worst of criminals. A captain of one of the Gotei 13 Guard Squads was someone you definitely did not want to tangle with. (1)

Despite her particular distaste for the lower Rukongai district she was currently patrolling, Rukia had volunteered for duty today even though it was highly unusual for someone of her rank to do such a demeaning job. She knew that no one in Rukongai would be stupid enough to bother a captain, and that's exactly what she wanted. Rukia wanted to be away from the busy life of a captain and prying eyes.

_And what better way to get away from that than in the busy streets of Rukongai, _Rukia thought ruefully.

Today was the anniversary of _his _disappearance.

Captain Rukia had hoped the aimless wandering through several of the Rukongai districts would distract her restless thoughts about _him._ It didn't. In fact, along with the memories of him, recollections of her own life in the Rokungai before becoming a Shinigami wormed their way into her mind. Some of them brought back nostalgic childhood memories, but most of them were painful.

Rukia angrily pushed aside the things she had come out here to forget. It had already been two years and he wasn't coming back. Instead she turned her mind back to her duties as a patrolling Shinigami. They were easy enough (which may have been the reason why her mind kept wandering back to the persistent subject of _him)_.

There was no real sense in policing the area. As mentioned before, no one was that stupid to try anything while a Shinigami was in the area; the residents huddled on the sides of the small road, casting suspicious glares. Rukia instead began to expand her senses until she became aware of the auras around her. The captain's gaze passed over the crowd listlessly, not really looking at them, but focusing on the spiritual energy. Remarkable spiritual energy was uncommon in the Rukongai, let alone one of these rundown districts, but there was always a chance, and it was her current responsibility to sense it and hopefully recruit the person to join the academy.

To her surprise, there was a sudden spike in the spiritual energy in her general facility. From the amount of it, Rukia guessed it was several people. The captain set her jaw grimly. Most people were wary of the Shinigami and the 13 Gotei Guard Squads that they represented in their black shihakusho. Rukia probably was going to have her work cut out for her trying to persuade the group to join the 'Death Gods' themselves.

Rukia's pace suddenly changed as she pinpointed the location of the spiritual pressure. The crowd parted before her nervously, wondering at the captain's hurried steps.

Abruptly, the spiritual pressure darted away, confusing Rukia until she again detected it coming slightly to her right. She turned and came face-to-face with a stunned group of people who obviously were intimidated by her captain status and uncomfortable in her sudden and unwelcomed attention.

Rukia scrutinized them for a moment before turning away (much to their relief). The spiritual pressure she was sensing was too large to be coming from that small of a group, and there was clearly no trace of spiritual pressure around them. The energy shifted again, slightly annoying the captain. She briefly wondered how the large group of people could move so fast together in this crowd; there had to at least be—

Rukia involuntarily stiffened and whirled around, her hopes soaring irrationally. She searched for that suspicious flash of orange, but then dismissed it.

She wasn't here to think about _him. He _wasn't going to show up randomly in the Rukongai after two years. With her growing irritation, Rukia pushed through the crowd, determined to catch the elusive owners of the high spiritual energy.

Closing in on the spiritual pressure, Rukia allowed herself to be momentarily impressed with the amount of it. She wondered for a split second how it had gone undetected for this long. Surely one of these individuals would have surely been sensed by previous patrolling Shinigami.

Her hand shot out reflexively towards the spiritual pressure, and she was surprised by the small, bony shoulder it came into contact with.

The individual beneath her hand turned around and locked eyes with his captor. He was a boy, maybe twelve or thirteen years of age, with shoulder-length, messy orange hair. Looking him over, Rukia realized that the spiritual pressure that she had assumed had come from a group of people was actually just from this one boy… funny, it was just like…

Mentally slapping herself for getting side-tracked again, Rukia kneeled down to the boy's height after noting the mixed look of awe and terror coming from the boy's face.

"Hi. My name is Kuchiki Rukia," she said, trying to make her smile convincing. Yep, she really didn't want to be here, and the boy's appearance and impressive spiritual energy was once again bringing up buried feelings and memories. The next time the anniversary came around, she was just going to lock herself in her room.

The boy quickly glanced around him, making sure she was really addressing him before answering in a soft, almost inaudible voice. "Umm… Am I in trouble?"

The shy question from the boy made Rukia laugh lightly, his shy demeanor melting any previous sour feelings. She shook her head. "No, don't worry, you're not in trouble. Why would you think that?"

He shifted nervously from one foot to another. "Usually, when a Shinigami comes, it means someone's in trouble, and they're going to be arrested or killed or something…" The boy stopped and looked up, worried that he might have offended the Shinigami right in front of him.

"I understand," Rukia replied with a smile, which made the boy finally relax ever so slightly. "I used to be from the 78th district, so I know how you feel."

The boy's eyes widened in an almost cute way. "Someone from the Rukongai can become a Shinigami Captain?" he asked in admiring wonder.

Rukia laughed again. "Yup. There are quite a handful of us actually. Not a lot, but enough not to be uncommon." She looked back, straight into the boy's brown eyes. "Have you ever thought about becoming a Shinigami?"

Fearfully, the child shook his head. "No, I could never do that! You have to go the academy and learn a lot. I'll probably fail everything there!"

"Yes, the Shinigami Academy is difficult, but it is easier for those with high spiritual energy like yours. I think you could do it," the captain reassured him, while his eyes grew bigger at the prospect of becoming a Shinigami.

Pausing, Rukia studied the boy with a sudden thought. "How long have you been here?"

The boy hesitated. "Um… I'm not really sure. I've lived here a few years, but I don't really remember…"

Rukia nodded with understanding. Whenever a soul entered the Soul Society, one of two things happened. If the soul was young, they kept their physical age, but lost some of their memories of their previous lives. If the spirit was older, he or she usually lost most if not all of the memories of past lives, and physically started over again at a young age in Rukongai. Rukia guessed the latter happened to they boy, judging by his lack of memories.

"Don't worry about not remembering," Rukia informed him. "I would guess you've only been here about two or three years. The Shinigami Academy is not too picky about your age as long as you can pass the entrance exam, but you should still wait a few years before you seriously think about it. Being a Shinigami is a serious subject, and if you're not ready for it, you should wait."

"Oh." The boy almost looked disappointed, a slight scowl scrunching his boyish features.

Rukia smiled at him as she rose to her feet. "Don't worry about it. You can start practicing to control your spiritual energy now so that you'll be ready for that entrance exam. Practice would also make learning Kido easier and might give you an edge over the other students when you join them."

"Okay. I'll try my best," he promised, brightening up.

Rukia nodded to him and proceeded to continue her patrolling, but something was bothering her. She glanced back to the kid and asked, "By the way… What's your name?"

"Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo."

For a moment, time seemed to freeze. Rukia whirled to face him again. "That's impossible, Ichigo is... You are..."

The boy's eyes widened and he flinched away from her. "D-did I do something wrong?"

Then, logic kicked in. Of course this wasn't the same Ichigo. The name was popular now because of _him_. It made sense that a family in Rukongai would name an orange-haired boy Ichigo...

Still, they even went so far as to give him the same last name, too? That would be taking it kind of far... Her face set in hard lines as she focused back on the boy in front of her. "Who named you after Kurosaki-taichou?" she demanded all previous gentleness gone. (2)

Confusion mixed with the terror on his face. "What?"

"Who told you that your name was Kurosaki Ichigo?" she rephrased her question irritably. The whole day she had been trying to avoid _him, _and now a boy with the same exact name ruined her whole plans of forgetting.

He frowned, his wide eyes fixed on her face. "W-well... N-nobody did, it's just my name... I... I think it was my name before I died."

Rukia stared at him in shock. Slowly, she dropped to her knees in front of him, grabbed both of his shoulders, and stared into his eyes. Could it really be...?

He fidgeted uncomfortably, looking away and trying to pull away from her grasp. Being grabbed by the shoulders for the second time that day was making him nervous.

"Ano..." It was obvious that he would very much like to be running away from her as fast as he could.

Rukia frowned; she still couldn't tell, not with that expression on his face. "Glare at me for a moment," she directed.

He glanced back up at her, his eyes widening further. "What?"

"Make your eyebrows go together; glare at me."

He turned slightly red, but hesitantly did as she asked.

Rukia stared, her mouth falling open a little. "It... it really is you, isn't it?"

Confusion spread across his face again and he opened his mouth to respond, but she didn't give him a chance. Standing, she grabbed a hold of one of his wrists and began dragging him back towards the Seireitei. "I've got to find the other captains!"

**Ichigo's POV**

Kurosaki Ichigo was immensely confused, and admittedly, a little scared. Usually, in the 78th district he was fearless. He had created his own reputation as a loner, yet someone you would definitely not want to cross paths with, and he had felt comfortable with that. Not content, but comfortable. But now, in the grasp of a Shinigami—a Shinigami _captain_—any brash attitude or confidence had left him.

The day had begun like any other day in the Rukongai. Each day consisted of constant survival, which included stealing, not getting caught by store owners, finding a place to sleep, and avoiding the Shinigami. He had failed the last one and now was being forcibly dragged by this Shinigami captain.

He had heard rumors of the Shinigami captain patrolling today, and he had never been close or even seen a captain before, so his twelve-year-old curiosity had gotten the better of him. (3)

Ichigo stumbled again as he tried to make his much smaller legs keep up with the captain whose unrelenting hand was closed firmly around his own. As they passed through crowds, people whispered to their neighbor, undoubtedly wondering what a Shinigami captain wanted with a child as young as himself. The boy couldn't help but agree with the questions and confusion in their eyes. He had absolutely no idea where they were going or why the captain had taken such a sudden interest in him. His current situation had all resulted because of his name…

Now being jostled and pulled painfully along, Ichigo wished he had stayed far away from the Shinigami.

Apparently, the Shinigami found walking too slow and crowded, so without any warning, she jumped, dragging a protesting Ichigo, up onto the top of the rooftops.

Ichigo's world suddenly became a blur, and he couldn't breath. In the back of his mind, the sensation felt familiar, but he couldn't place a name with it. He didn't really dwell on that thought much as the world seemed to shift violently around him. It was hours or maybe just a few minutes before the world returned to its natural normal-paced state. Ichigo was winded like someone had punched him in the gut, but the slower pace allowed his coherent thoughts to return and with it, confusion and bit of annoyance.

"Where are we going?" he asked wildly when the Shinigami had taken a break from the rapid movement.

The Shinigami seemed to be selectively deaf at the moment because she didn't respond or even turn towards him.

The boy couldn't help the small bit of anger that flared at the much bigger and much more powerful person with a death grip.

"Hey!" he practically shouted. "I asked, 'where are we going?'"

This time she glanced down at him, but as if she was trying to increase his temporary anger, she smiled down at him with mixed amusement and anticipation. The world once again began to move in a blur, and all Ichigo could do was focus on breathing.

The captain eventually stopped her quick stride and settled for a hurried walk. She was still moving fast, but at least it didn't make Ichigo want to hurl.

The walk allowed the boy to catch his breath, and Ichigo was just about to yell again when he caught sight of her destination. His voice caught in his throat as a wall of fear crashed down on him.

"Kuchiki-taichou, I don't think I'm allowed in here!" he yelped as he stared wide-eyed at the huge gates of the Seireitei.

The captain didn't even hesitate as she dragged him right through, ignoring his protests and struggles, and continued their journey. It was a long fruitless battle for the Rukongai boy as he fought against the iron grip, ignoring his surroundings and not caring which streets she took him down. All he cared about was getting away from the scary shinigami.

Ichigo was just about to try another protest when they abruptly arrived at the captain's destination. It took his breath away. The fear he had felt when passing through the gates of the Seireitei paled in comparison to the terror he felt now.

Kuchiki-taichou had stopped in front of two impressively large doors. Ichigo had no idea where they led, but a strange apprehension warned him of danger on the other side.

Not hesitating any further, Kuchiki-taichou barged into a large room without even knocking. Inside the room, several people were standing in two lines. Their previous discussion stopped short by Kuchiki-taichou's abrupt entrance.

"I found him!" Kuchiki-taichou announced dramatically while holding up Ichigo's wrist triumphantly.

There was a long silence that followed, and Ichigo's apprehension increased when all eyes turned on him. He gulped, realizing that each person in the room wore the white coat that was a symbol of captaincy. He had been dragged into a room full of Shinigami captains!

He still had no idea what was going on, but he must have done something horribly wrong in order for him to be here right now.

One of the other captains who was wearing a straw hat and pink haori spoke for them all. "You found who exactly, Rukia-chan?"

"I hope you have a good reason for interrupting us, Kuchiki," another added.

Kuchiki-taichou smiled grimly. "Trust me, I don't care what you were talking about before, you will want to hear this." She finally released his wrist and gently pushed him forward towards the other captains. "Introduce yourself," she instructed him.

With wide eyes, he glanced back at her, rubbing his sore wrist. "A-ano... I really don't understand what's going on; I'm not this important."

She laughed dryly. "You're very important," she assured him. "Introduce yourself."

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Ichigo frowned at her. "Are you _sure_ I'm not in trouble?" he asked in a voice that was far squeakier than he would have preferred. Ichigo could not think of any other reason why Kuchiki-taichou would bring him before a room filled with eight captains.

"Just introduce yourself!"

Reluctantly, he faced the other captains and bowed, keeping his gaze very firmly on the ground. "Ano... well... I'm... My name is Ichigo...Kurosaki Ichigo, I mean..."

There was dead silence in the room. Ichigo glanced up. Everyone was staring at him in various states of shock. "... Nice to meet you?" he added hesitantly.

The room of captains suddenly snapped out of its frozen state as all the captains turned to his or her neighbor to talk at the same time.

Ichigo stared in wonder and confusion. At the moment, none of them looked like they wanted to kill him, but their reaction still puzzled the boy. All of this because of his _name? _

He couldn't help remember Takeo's reaction to his name a long time ago. None of the captains were laughing like Takeo had, but their current actions still seemed strange just for a _name. _

"Is it really him, Rukia?" The same captain with the straw hat called over the sudden noise. "Are you sure?"

She nodded firmly. "I'm positive."

"How can you be sure?"

A large captain with black spiky hair stepped out of the line, a huge grin spreading over his scarred face. "There's one easy way to tell if it's really him," he said, walking steadily towards them. With one fluid motion, he unsheathed his sword.

Ichigo honestly hadn't thought he could get more scared than he was; turns out, he was wrong. His knees buckled underneath him and he screamed, trying to scoot backwards as fast as he could. His momentary relief that none of them seemed to want to punish him for whatever he didn't know he did vanished in a single thought of terror.

Thankfully, every other captain in the room seemed to think that what was happening was a bad thing and several of them grabbed the first by his arms and dragged him back.

"What are you thinking, Kenpachi?" One of them yelled. "He's just a kid! He doesn't even have a sword!"

"But if it really is Ichigo..." Kenpachi whined.

"Whether it's Ichigo or not, you're scaring him out of his mind," the shortest captain in the room observed almost in a bored manner. "Rukia, didn't you explain anything to him? He looks absolutely shell-shocked."

_An explanation would be definitely help things, _Ichigo agreed sourly as he remembered the journey to this place, but he was still to terrified to voice his thought

Kuchiki-taichou looked defensive. "I thought that bringing him here first was a bigger priority."

The other rolled his eyes and walked over to Ichigo, extending a hand to help him up. Hesitantly, Ichigo took it.

"I'm Hitsugaya," he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you," Ichigo squeaked automatically.

Hitsugaya-taichou smirked, and then turned to the other captains. "That's Ukitake-san, Kyoraku, Soifon-san, Kenpachi, Unohana-san, and Yamamoto-sou-taichou."

Ichigo gulped again. He hadn't realized the _head_ of the captains was here as well...

Hitsugaya-taichou laughed. "Don't worry; if you really are who we think you are, everyone here is your friend."

Ichigo looked up at him in disbelief. "Even him?" he asked doubtfully, pointing at Kenpachi-taichou.

Kenpachi-taichou grinned at him and Ichigo very quickly looked away, hating the fear he felt. Hitsugaya-taichou smirked again. "Even him." He looked back to address the room as a whole. "So what are we going to do about this?"

"Well, first we still need to confirm that it really is him," Soifon-taichou said reasonably.

Ukitake-taichou nodded. "True. He certainly hasn't been acting much like Kurosaki-san..."

Hitsugaya-taichou snorted. "Put yourself in his shoes. He obviously doesn't have his memories. He doesn't remember any of us, so to him, he was just dragged in front of a bunch of captains for no reason. You'd be scared witless too."

"If you won't let me fight him to test it out, you should at least see if he can release his sword," Kenpachi-taichou suggested, obviously still put out by the loss of a good fight. "If he can, one glance at it will tell us. _It's_ not going to change."

"That might work," Ukitake-taichou mused.

Kyoraku-taichou shook his head. "If he's lost his memories, he probably doesn't even know who Zangetsu even is..."

Ichigo perked up at the familiar name. "... Zangetsu? You mean old man Zangetsu?"

Everyone turned to look at him and he flinched again. When nobody spoke, Ichigo hesitantly continued. "He lives in my head. He says he's a sword, but I don't believe him..."

Several of the captains chuckled at this. Kuchiki-taichou grinned triumphantly. "Do you believe me now? I told him nothing."

Unohana-taichou stepped forward and kneeled in front of Ichigo, placing one hand gently on the top of his head. She smiled warmly at him. "Hold still for just a moment, Ichigo." Her voice was gentle, and Ichigo nodded.

Briefly, her hand on his head began to glow a light blue and her eyes closed. Ichigo felt a strange tingly warmth flood through his whole body for an instant, and then it faded. Unohana-taichou opened her eyes and stood.

"I almost don't believe my own reading, but it really is him," she confirmed. "He's completely healthy, if a little hungry, and if it weren't for the fact that he's looks twelve when he's supposed to be in his early _twenties_, I'd say there was nothing wrong with him..."

Hitsugaya-taichou looked down at him. "So exactly how much does he remember?"

"Remember about what?" Ichigo asked in slight exasperation, finally voicing one of the questions he'd been wondering about this whole time.

"Your life before living in Rukongai," Kuchiki-taichou explained briefly. "What can you tell us about that?"

Ichigo hesitated. "Um... not much... a few random things, like some peoples' names, random facts...Like, I know that Renji is really mean, but I don't know who Renji _is_..."

Kuchiki-taichou smirked.

Yamamoto-sou-taichou finally spoke up for the first time. "I believe we are all in agreement that this boy is, indeed, Kurosaki Ichigo, although he appears to have lost most of his memories. What do you propose we do, then?"

There was silence in the room. Finally, Soifon-taichou spoke up. "Perhaps we could have 12th division take a look at him? We need to figure out what exactly happened to him and whether or not it can be reversed..."

_Oh, no. Stay away from 12th __division_, _Ichigo_, a familiar voice sounded in his head. The sudden appearance of the voice made Ichigo jump slightly, but none of the captains seemed to notice as the continued to talk. _Don't you remember what happened __last __time you let those freaks take a look at you?_

_No. In case you hadn't noticed, Shiro, I apparently don't remember much at all_, Ichigo mentally shot back at the white version of himself.

After a certain incident Ichigo had, which included a _very _close call with some bandits, Shiro (as Ichigo had named his white doppelganger) along with Zangetsu had appeared in his head. This had happened over a year ago, and Ichigo had long since gotten use to their presence.

When the other him had saved him from a certain death experience, Ichigo had easily learned to trust both of them no matter how annoying Shiro could get sometimes.

_It was bad_, Zangetsu agreed with the other him. _Stay away from there._

The fact that Zangetsu had actually spoken up was enough to convince Ichigo. Zangetsu was normally quiet and only spoke up when danger arose.

"I don't want to go to 12th division," Ichigo stated aloud, causing the captains all to stare at him again. Ichigo frowned defensively. "They do bad things there."

Ukitake-taichou hesitated. "He is right, you know. You remember what Kurotsuchi tried to do to him before because of the whole Vaizard thing?"

There was a respectful pause, as if for the remembrance for the dead and fallen on the anniversary of some great, horrifically bloody battle. Ichigo was simply confused, though he took comfort in noting that if things got too weird, the other him and Zangetsu both seemed to remember all this stuff they were talking about...

"What if I take him to Urahara instead?" Kuchiki-taichou suggested. "Ichigo would probably feel much more comfortable there, and we could still get closer to figuring out what happened."

The other captains thought about this, and then one by one they all nodded. Yamamoto-sou-taichou spoke again. "All right, so be it. One last thing: keep what you've seen here today quiet. If the situation calls for it, this information may be shared with the other captains and any others. But I would like to keep this strictly within the circle of captains."

"Why?" someone asked.

Kyoraku-taichou responded, "The last report we had of Kurosaki-taichou was 'missing in action, presumed dead.' If it was to be widely spread that he was back, but like this, it's possible that people would panic."

Kuchiki-taichou frowned. "So what are we going to do with him, then? Keep him in obscurity until he grows up again?"

"To some extent, yes. Perhaps when he is older and hopefully has regained at least some of his memories, he may be able to resume his position as captain without causing any rumors or panic."

Ichigo frowned at this, but said nothing, trying to piece together all the random information they were throwing around. Supposedly, he used to be a captain himself, specifically, he had been the captain that Takeo and Shuu had clearly admired and idolized. All of it seemed too incredible for his mind to take in, but all of the captains seemed to agree on it and neither Shiro nor Zangetsu had denied any of the claims… and now they wanted to make him be a captain again when he didn't even know what was going on...

"How exactly are you going to prevent people from finding out? He'd be conspicuous just about anywhere in Seireitei, and we're definitely not going to just dump him back in Rukongai..." Kuchiki-taichou said; her face became thoughtful as if an idea came to her even as she spoke.

"We will figure that out at a later time," Yamamoto-sou-taichou decided. "For now, take him to Urahara Kisuke for further observation. The main goal here will be to get his memories back, if at all possible."

Soifon-taichou nodded. "I'll inform Yoruichi-sama." With that, she disappeared from the room.

Kuchiki-taichou took Ichigo's hand. "Come on. We have to get people to set up the gate in order for you to get through."

Ichigo looked up at her in confusion. "What gate?"

"Urahara's shop is in the real world," she explained to him, leading him out of the room. "While we're waiting for the gate to get set up, I'll try and explain all this to you."

_The real world…_ Ichigo was unsure about how he felt about that and all the rest of the information, but an explanation really did sound nice right about now…

**(1) AU Rukia became the captain of squad 5. Will be explained later in the story.**

**(2) AU Ichigo was also a captain (as mentioned before). Will be explained later. **

**(3) Ichigo still appears 12-years-old because people don't age as quickly in the Soul Society.**

**Words: Taichou - captain; Ano - um; Sou-taichou - head captain; Shiro - Ichigo's hollow, means "white" or "bleached"**

**~Bluesky21543**


	3. Chapter 2: Discovering Self

**Hello everyone! This chapter is again completely Daricio's with a little bit of my own adding and editing. **

**The original story from Daricio is… /s/4321805/1/bFamiliar_b_bFaces_b. (I hope I copied that right…)**

**Answers to reviews:**

**Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: ** Once again thanks for the advice. I did a little editing in the last chapter so hopefully it didn't sound too rushed.

**Mel72000: **You're welcome

**IchigoMoonCutter: **Thanks for your review. I hope I can keep up this story

**Theblackbook: **Yeah, I though Ichigo did seem a little like a wimp in the last chapter, but considering he's a kid and scared half to death, I figured that he would be dragged around a bit. Hopefully, the old Ichigo will be coming back. Don't keep expecting long chapters because I don't know if I can keep that up, but I'll try

**Just a little warning, there is some AU concerning the defeat of Aizen and of course what happened afterwards. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or this story.**

**Chapter 2: Discovering Self**

**Ichigo's POV**

Ichigo was once again being dragged somewhere, but at least this time it was done at a manageable pace and he actually had both feet on the ground this time.

He wasn't exactly sure where he was being taken, but he didn't bother asking since he knew that the shinigami captain didn't seem to care about his questions or opinion. Ichigo guessed that wherever they were going had to do with when he had seen Rukia talking to the other kind-looking woman, asking if her barracks had somewhere private to talk since Rukia's own quarters were currently crowded with busy shinigami.

He was now in an unfamiliar building, but that wasn't really a surprise considering the whole Seireitei was foreign to him. Rukia seemed to know where she was going as she navigated through the hallways and eventually came to a room and opened the door.

The sudden sound of the door opening had startled whatever occupants it had, and Ichigo heard something heavy hit the wooden floor. When he looked around the captain, he saw another shinigami sprawled on the floor.

"Ru-Rukia-san," the shinigami exclaimed, still recovering from his surprise. He got to his feet and brushed at his shihakusho nervously.

Rukia smiled kindly at the shinigami. "Sorry, Hanatarou. Unohana-san had said that this room was empty and that I could use it."

"Oh! I'm not using it. I was just sitting here because it was so peaceful. But if you need it, I'll leave," Hanatarou rambled.

Rukia nodded her thanks and walked in with Ichigo trailing behind.

Hanatarou finally took notice of the third person behind his friend.

"Is there a particular reason you're babysitting, Rukia-san?" Hanatarou looked somewhat amused at the orange-haired stranger.

She glanced at him as she passed. "There is, but it's classified. If you don't mind, could you get him something to eat, Hanatarou?"

He looked puzzled at the classified bit, but nodded amiably. "Sure." He hurried off.

Rukia pulled Ichigo to a small table in a corner and they sat at either side of it.

"I thought we were going to the world of the living," the boy said.

"We will," Rukia assured him. "We just have to wait for the gate to be prepared for us."

Ichigo nodded, still not understanding what this gate was.

"Okay," the captain began. "I guess I'll just tell you everything I remember from since I first met you..." she pulled out her sketchbook and a pencil. Where she had gotten it from, Ichigo had no idea and why a person would carry a sketchbook around with them was beyond Ichigo.

Ichigo looked at it warily. "They're not all going to be bunnies, are they?"

Rukia stared. "You remember the sketchbook, but not me?"

He blinked at her. "What?"

"Never mind," she sighed. If he remembered her drawings enough to insult them, she should probably not draw this; she didn't want to have to hit a kid... She put her sketchbook away.

"How much do you actually know about… yourself?" Rukia felt really weird asking that question.

Ichigo shrugged before answering, "I know he—I was a captain and a human, defeated Aizen and the hollows, and disappeared a while ago."

"I guess I better tell you all of it. What you heard were probably just mixed up rumors anyways… Okay, when you were about fifteen..." She stopped suddenly, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Ichigo; that just seems weird to say that to twelve-year-old..."

He smirked slightly. To be honest, it felt weird hearing her speak about him like this. "How about you just tell me the story of Kurosaki Ichigo, and I'll just pretend you're talking about another Ichigo?" he suggested.

Rukia smiled. "All right. When Ichigo was about fifteen, living in the real world, his family was attacked by a hollow. I was the shinigami on duty in his town, at the time, so I tried to defend him. I got injured, so the only option left was for me to lend him my shinigami powers."

Ichigo frowned. "Isn't that illegal?"

He paused, wondering how he had known that bit of information, but Rukia did not seem to notice and continued with her narration.

"Yes, but at the time, I didn't think it would matter. Once the hollow was gone, my powers would fade from him, and everything would go back to normal... Except that for some reason, he accidentally took all of them, and they didn't come back to me. So for a few months, I went to his school with him, and he took care of my shinigami duties. Eventually, though, the Soul Society had found out what I'd done. They sent a captain and a vice captain with orders to arrest me and kill him."

Ichigo's eyes widened a bit. "_Did_ they kill him, then?" he asked, momentarily forgetting that this story was supposed to be about himself.

"Well, they thought they did. Byakuya-niisama destroyed his spiritual energy and the shinigami powers I'd given him. I let them take me to Soul Society, hoping that by doing so, they would at least let him live. They did, and he was rescued by Urahara-san."

"The same Urahara we're going to go see?" Ichigo asked.

Rukia nodded. "Right. Urahara-san gave Ichigo special training that gave him his own shinigami powers in place of the ones he had borrowed from me, and Ichigo broke into Soul Society along with a few of his friends to come rescue me from execution."

"Wow... Didn't he get stopped by the captains?"

"They tried to stop him, but he refused to stop." Rukia shook her head. "He beat Kenpachi, which is why he tried to fight you. He beat Renji, who was a vice-captain at the time. He even learned bankai and defeated Byakuya-niisama. He was really powerful."

Hanatarou showed up then with a tray of food and set it in front of Ichigo. Ichigo stared at it for a long moment before eating hungrily. Hanatarou smiled and turned to the captain. "Are you telling him about Ichigo-san?"

Rukia smiled although it was kind of strained. She didn't know that Hanatarou had heard part of her conversation. "Yeah, kind of."

Hanatarou grinned, sitting at the table next to his friend and turning to Ichigo. "Ichigo-san was really great. I first met him when he broke in to save Rukia-san. He actually kidnapped me and tried to hold me hostage, but it didn't work because the 11th squad guys don't like me."

Ichigo smirked, listening intently while still eating. "But you became friends with him?"

Hanatarou nodded with a laugh. "I also wanted to rescue Rukia-san, so I continued following Ichigo-san around and I healed him whenever he got hurt while fighting."

Ichigo stopped eating and looked up at Hanatarou with a look of concentration on his face. "Your sword heals people when you hit them with it, doesn't it?"

Hanatarou blinked at him. "Err, yeah actually, it does." Rukia shot Ichigo a warning glance, and he wisely went back to his food.

Rukia went back to her explanation. "Anyway... Unfortunately, what none of us knew at the time was that three of the Shinigami Captains were traitors: Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tousen. They had killed the entire office of 46 and were relaying false messages to the rest of the shinigami, constantly moving up my execution date and trying to prevent Ichigo from rescuing me."

"Why?"

"Well, it turns out that Urahara-san had used me as a hiding place for a really powerful artifact called the Hougyoku without telling me. Aizen was trying to get his hands on it, and the only way he could see to do that was to destroy my body. Obviously, that didn't work; Ichigo was able to save me, but Aizen managed to get a hold of the Hougyoku anyway. He and the other traitors escaped to Hueco Mundo and began forming an army of Arrancar."

Ichigo frowned. "Arrancar?"

"Shinigami/hollow hybrids. They're created when a hollow removes its mask and gains shinigami powers. There's also another kind of shinigami/hollow hybrid called a Vaizard, when a shinigami gains hollow powers. And it turns out that part of the reason Ichigo was so powerful was that the training Urahara gave him actually turned him into a Vaizard."

"He could use hollow powers?" Ichigo asked in slight wonder.

Rukia shook her head. "Only after he defeated the hollow in his mind. Before that, it kept trying to take control of him and destroy everything. Once he took care of that, though, he was fine."

Ichigo frowned, his head suddenly swam with this new information and the word "Vaizard" sent warning signals off inside his head.

_The hollow in his mind…_

It couldn't be true. But something else said otherwise.

_Shiro…? _Ichigo called out hesitantly inside his head. He scowled mentally when he didn't get a response. _Shiro!_

_Oi, King. What's up? _the response finally came.

_Kuchiki-taichou said… He—I was a… Are you…_

_Che, spit it out already, King… I don't have all day._

_Are… are you a hollow? _

There was a pause as Ichigo waited.

When no response came, Ichigo called out again. _Shiro?_

_What if I was? _came the question.

Ichigo hesitated. When Shiro and Zangetsu had appeared in his head, he had not given it much thought. He now understood that Zangetsu had been telling him the truth about him being a sword, but Shiro had not offered any information on himself. He only gave instructions and harsh remarks (insults really) and took over his body once or twice, but only to defend Ichigo. But hollows were bad and Kuchiki-taichou had said that Kurosaki's hollow had tried to…

_Will you try to take over me? _Ichigo asked.

_Do you want me to?_

Ichigo thought that was a dumb question. Shiro may have saved his life, but Ichigo preferred having control over his own body. _You tried to take over the… other me._

_Che, the other you was weak. _

_And I'm not? _

_You're better than the other you. He was afraid of me. You're not afraid of me are you? _

The last part didn't really sound like a question, more like a statement of truth. Ichigo wasn't afraid of Shiro; Shiro was annoying at times, but he trusted the white version of himself. Despite this friendship between them, Kuchiki's words had made him nervous.

The hollow seemed to notice this and said, _Don't sweat it King. I'm not planning to take over. _

_Why—_

_Tell you another time King. Right now, you should really pay attention. Outside, I mean. _

Ichigo snapped back when he realized that Rukia was trying to get his attention.

"Are you all right?" the captain asked with a worried expression.

"Yeah, just… thinking," Ichigo muttered. For some reason, Ichigo felt it best not to mention that he still had the hollow inside him just like his past self, and Shiro mumbled his agreement at this decision.

The captain looked at the boy doubtfully, but decided not to push it.

"Anyway, while we were all training to fight against Aizen, he kidnapped one of Ichigo's friends, Inoue Orihime. You can imagine he wasn't too pleased. So he and a few others broke into Hueco Mundo to go rescue her."

"He rescued lots of people, didn't he?" Ichigo mused.

Hanatarou grinned. "Yeah, he did. It's why lots of people liked him."

"Oh." Ichigo looked down at his tray and sighed. Kuchiki-taichou realized with a small smile that it was empty.

Hanatarou realized this as well and laughed, getting quickly to his feet. "I'll go get you some more food," he said, grabbing the tray.

Ichigo immediately brightened, allowing the frown to soften a bit. "Thanks!" Hanatarou bowed and left.

Rukia waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Ichigo again. "Does any of this sound familiar to you at all?" she asked him.

Slowly, Ichigo shook his head. "Nope. Ichigo sounds pretty cool though," he said, allowing a small smile to finally spread across his young face.

She sighed. "I guess I should have expected as much. How did you know about Hanatarou's sword, though?"

Ichigo shrugged. "Names and random facts just click sometimes. I just suddenly knew that Hanatarou's sword heals, and you called him Hanatarou, so..."

Rukia frowned. "I see. Well, try to keep the observations to yourself. We don't want people figuring out who you are..."

"Kay..." Ichigo frowned again. "So what happened next? Did Ichigo save Inoue?"

The captain nodded and continued her narrative. "Yes. At first, we weren't doing too well, but Yamamoto-sou-taichou sent in a few captains after us to help, and then we did okay. We managed to rescue Inoue, we damaged the Hougyoku, and took out quite a few Espada, who were the top Arrancar. Then we went back to Soul Society. After that, everyone trained hard for the next major attack. During this time, Yamamoto-sou-taichou decided that we desperately needed to fill the holes that the traitors had left so that we could effectively use all of our divisions again. So Renji, Ichigo, and I were made captains—Renji of the Third, Ichigo of the Ninth, and I took over the Fifth."

"So Ichigo's been a captain since he was fifteen?" Ichigo asked in slight awe.

"Well, he was seventeen by the time he was officially named a captain, but yes," Rukia confirmed. "Actually, a lot of people were opposed to his becoming a captain, since he was technically still alive in the real world. But nobody else really qualified for the position, except Ikkaku, but he wouldn't take it. I barely qualified for the captain's position, myself, actually. I only barely learned bankai during our rescue trip."

"Oh. So did Ichigo kick Aizen's butt?"

The captain shook her head in amusement. "Well, yes. It was another year before our next attack on Hueco Mundo, though, and even with all that training, it still took most of the captains to bring him and the other traitors down... None of us got out of that battle uninjured, and Ichigo was probably the worst off out of all of us since the idiot always seemed to be in the heaviest part of the battle." Rukia paused and looked up awkwardly since the so-called "idiot" was sitting right in front of her, but Ichigo remained impassive, not noticing the insult. "Anyways, we all eventually recovered, and then we all had to readjust to non-wartime situations."

Hanatarou reappeared then, placing another tray of food in front of Ichigo and jumping back into the conversation. "That was a bit difficult after the huge battles we'd been through. Quite a few people then thought that Ichigo-san should step down from the captaincy and go back to living his life in the real world."

"Did he?" Ichigo wondered, speaking with his mouth full.

"Like Ichigo would ever listen to anybody but himself," Rukia snorted. "No. Just to spite them, he started alternating his time between Soul Society and the real world. Not only did he maintain all of his captain duties, but he also managed to graduate from high school, despite missing most of his sophomore year, and before he disappeared, he was doing pretty well—actually better than well—at a community college in the real world. Nobody could really complain, then."

Hanatarou shook his head. "Except for the Vaizard thing."

Rukia scowled, obviously not pleased that her friend had brought up that sore subject. "Ah, right. Many people were opposed to letting a Vaizard be captain. After the whole 12th division fiasco though, it was generally agreed that since it wasn't _his_ fault he was a Vaizard and that he should be allowed to stay captain as long as he didn't use his hollow powers."

"Ichigo-san also refused to wear the usual captain's cloak, which made quite a few people upset," Hanatarou remembered.

The captain grinned at that. "He claimed it was because it 'messed up his bankai outfit,' but I'm pretty sure it was because he didn't like people judging him by his captain status. He never was one to brag, except when he was actually fighting..."

"He sounds nice," the boy commented, grinning again, but then frowned as he pointed to something above the captain's head. "What's that?"

The second comment didn't make much sense to the other two at first, but then Rukia realized that he was pointing at a black Hell Butterfly that was headed towards them. Quickly, she turned and held out a finger for it to land on.

"Kuchiki Rukia-taichou, the gate is ready to go whenever you are," was the recorded message. Then the butterfly flew off again.

The captain frowned. "Not enough time to tell you everything else, then. I'll just skip ahead to the part where this all applies to you, then."

"Ichigo-san's story applies to him? And you're going to the real world, Rukia-san?" Hanatarou asked, looking confused.

Rukia turned to him in surprise, biting back a curse. "Ah, I forgot you were here. Sorry, Hanatarou, that's classified information. I don't mean to be rude, but could I finish talking to him alone?"

Hanatarou looked apologetic. "Of course. Sorry, Rukia-san!" He hurriedly left.

Ichigo watched him go, looking disappointed. "He was nice. If he was friends with me before, why can't we tell him?"

Rukia shook her head. "Because if we told _everybody_ who was friends with you, _everybody_ in Soul Society would know."

"Oh."

"Anyways, two years ago, there was a large fire at a hospital in the real world. Ichigo had been there at the time, so of course his saving people thing kicked in. He rescued a lot of people from the fire, but went back into the building one too many times. It had become unstable, and it literally fell apart on top of him."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "Was he okay?"

"Technically," Rukia sighed. "We managed to get him out of there, but only his shinigami form. His real body, along with those of the two kids he'd been carrying, had been crushed and burned to death..."

Ichigo winced. "Ow."

"I can imagine. Then again, Ichigo himself was fine. He was more upset that he hadn't been able to save those kids. We gave them a soul burial, and then Ichigo opened up a gate back to Soul Society, figuring he'd just have to be a captain full time, now. That's when things went wrong."

"What happened?"

The captain looked at him. "That's kind of what we're hoping you can tell us. Basically, he entered the gate in the real world, but never got to Soul Society. Nobody could figure it out; we searched everywhere for him: the real world, Soul Society, including Rukongai, we even tried Hueco Mundo. But he was nowhere to be found. Months later, the search was finally called off, and it was generally assumed he was dead… until I found you."

Ichigo contemplated this for a long moment before shaking his head slowly. "I don't remember any of that..."

"Well, that's what we're going to Urahara-san's for," Rukia replied with forced cheeriness. She stood and held out her hand, indicating that he should follow her. He glanced at his tray, which was still half full of food. She smirked wryly. "Take it with you. Come on."

Happily, he picked up the tray in one hand and followed her out the doors and toward where the gate was waiting for them.

**Hanatarou's POV**

Just outside , Hanatarou curiously watched them leave. He didn't want to pry into classified information or anything, but he couldn't help but wonder... A mysterious orange-haired child with a connection to Ichigo? Could that mean...?

Hanatarou frowned. "I didn't know Ichigo-san ever liked anyone that way..." He wished he'd gotten the kid's name...

**Yeah, pretty mellow chapter, but the next one's going to be more fun **

**I have a question…**

**When shinigami students gain their zanpakoto do they (a) receive a sword and then eventually the zanpakoto spirit inhabits it, (b) the sword materializes after the shinigami contact the spirit, or (c) we have no idea and the method is up to the audience's interpretation. **

**Also did I spell zanpakoto right?**

**Please let me know so I can get it right. Thanks! **

**~Bluesky21543**


	4. Chapter 3: A Familiar Shop

**Hello everyone! This chapter is again completely Daricio's with a little bit of my own editing. (Original fanfic: fanfiction**.net/s/4321805/1/bFamiliar_b_bFaces_b)****

**Answers to reviews:**

**Mel72000: ** Haha, yeah. The original story of course belongs to Daricio and I just had to keep that little scene in there because it was so funny.

**Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: **Not a lot changed in this chapter except for some grammar stuff. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing (and your occasional suggestions).

**Ppsh: **Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. The concept idea is from Daricio but I intend to make it my own Happy reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.**

**Chapter 3 – A Familiar Shop**

Kon, Rinrin, Claude, and Nova were all peeking around a doorway in the back of Urahara's shop, trying to figure out why there was a short, orange-haired kid wandering around by himself and wondering whether they should actually do something about it.

He didn't seem to be causing any trouble; in fact, he treated the boxes and things on the shelves as if they would shock him if he touched them. Instead, he was simply wandering, looking around at everything in slight interest.

"Who's the kid?" Rinrin hissed to the others.

Kon glared at her. "How would we know that, idiot? We noticed him the same time you did!"

"Shut up, Kon!" the girl snapped back.

Kon ignored the girl's irritable reply and returned his attention to the mysterious kid. "What's he doing back here?" he asked.

Claude shrugged, rubbing the tips of his fingers across the brim of his hat contemplatively. "Kids are generally highly curious, so if the door to the back of the shop was open, he could have simply wandered in."

"Except that Urahara-san places pretty powerful barriers on the rooms back here so only certain people can get through," Rinrin noted crossly. "_How_ did he get back here?"

Claude opened his mouth to offer an explanation, one finger raised in the air pointedly. He stayed like that for a moment and then slumped. "No idea."

"You're helpful," Kon snorted. "What should we do about it? Where's Urahara?"

"I don't know. Talking with a customer, I think," Rinrin replied.

Nova quietly pointed out the boy's clothing. "He's from Rukongai. A lower district."

"You're right... That's odd, then why would he be here?" Kon mused.

Rinrin frowned at him. "Baka, obviously a shinigami brought him here. That's probably who Urahara-san's talking with right now."

"If that's so, then we should leave the kid alone," Claude noted. "We don't want any unnecessary attention from Soul Society on us..."

"Still, maybe we should at least ask the kid who he is," Rinrin suggested.

"Sure, you do that," Kon said, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. "Just don't make me do it; kids and I don't really mix."

"You say that as if any of us and kids really mix," Claude pointed out.

Nova interrupted them quietly. "He found our plush forms."

The other three all whirled to face the doorway again, looking in. The boy had indeed stumbled upon the low shelf where the four plush toys sat and was looking at them curiously. Slowly, he reached out and picked up the stuffed lion, turning it over in his hands.

Kon fumed. "Oh, no you don't..." He stormed into the room, announcing his presence with a terse, "Put it back, kid."

Immediately, the plush was back on the shelf and the kid was staring up at him in shock, but in a heartbeat his look changed into a challenging glare. "I didn't take anything!"

Kon scowled at him. "Sure, you didn't. Only someone with a guilty conscious says stuff like that. How'd you get back here, anyway?"

The kid became a little uneasy, probably knowing he really wasn't supposed to be there, and began to shift from one foot to another. "Urahara-san and Kuchiki-taichou were talking, and it was boring, and the door was open, so..."

Kon's mouth fell open slightly. "Byakuya's here?"

The kid looked confused. "Bya...kuya? No, I meant Kuchiki Rukia-taichou..."

Kon blinked and then smiled. "Ah, Rukia-neesan! That makes more sense. Why did Nee-san bring you here?"

"You know Kuchiki-taichou? Doesn't she get mad when you call her that?" the boy asked, ignoring the question.

Kon laughed. "Only when I try to hug her. Rukia-neesan doesn't much like the fancy titles, just so you know. Her brother is also a captain, so if you call them both Kuchiki-taichou, things get confusing."

The boy nodded quickly. "Kay." He looked up at Kon curiously. "You have orange hair, just like me..."

Kon scowled at him, running one hand distractedly through his neatly trimmed orange hair. "Yeah, you've got Ichigo and Urahara to blame for that one."

For some reason, this caught the boy's interest. "Really? What'd Ichigo do to your hair?"

"He existed." Kon said shortly. Several years before Ichigo's disappearance, Kon had insisted that Urahara make him a gigai so that the other mod-souls wouldn't have that advantage over him whenever Ichigo actually had to use his body. Urahara had insisted on the orange hair, since apparently "nothing else would look right." Kon was still ticked off about that...

Suddenly the orange-haired teen noted the lack of honorifics added to the name. "Hang on; you added taichou to Rukia-neesan's name, but nothing to Ichigo's? Did you know him or something?"

The boy frowned nervously, apparently unsure how to answer this. "Ano... maybe? I kind of don't remember..."

"I see... Is that why Nee-san brought you here?" Kon frowned at him.

He thought about this for a moment. "I dunno if I'm supposed to tell anyone. Rukia-taichou says I'm not supposed to say."

"Really?" Now Kon was interested. "What's your name, kid?"

"What's yours?" he shot back.

Kon smirked at him. "Going to play it that way, huh? Fine, I'm Kon. But you can call me Kon-sama."

The kid wrinkled his nose at him. "Yeah right. Why would I call a teenager 'sama?'"

"Because I'm awesome, that's why! Besides, I'm older than you!"

"As far as you know!" the kid said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Secret!" the kid said, scowling at the teen.

"So you're just a nameless, ageless, annoying, orange-haired kid, then?" Kon scowled back.

The boy scowl changed to a devious smirk. "And you're just an irritating, perverted mod-soul. So?"

Kon froze. "How did you know that?"

Abruptly, the boy's smug look disappeared, replaced by sincere confusion and apprehension. "Know what?"

"You called me a mod-soul!" Kon accused. "How do you even know what a mod-soul is?"

His features went blank as he thought about this. "I... I _don't_ know what a mod-soul is. I don't even know why I called you that. I think I might have known someone else named Kon once...?"

Kon looked him over suspiciously. "Kon isn't exactly a popular name. I certainly don't know any other Kons..." That and he could count the number of people who knew about mod-souls on two hands...

The boy shrugged slightly, looking even more confused. "I don't know..." the boy muttered so softly that Kon almost couldn't hear it. "I remember random stuff when I'm not paying attention, but when I _try_ to remember, it doesn't work."

Kon frowned at him. "That's really odd."

The boy nodded. There was an awkward silence for a moment before the kid decided to break it with a random topic change. "So what are those?" he asked, pointing at the shelf that held the four plush forms.

"... They're stuffed animals."

The kid shot a look that said "duh." "Well, I figured that... I meant, why did you get mad at me for touching them?"

"I don't care about most of them. Just the one that's mine," Kon said indignantly.

"Oh." he grinned. "A _teenager_ has a stuffed animal?"

"Hey, watch it, kid." Kon scowled at him. "Just don't touch it."

"Or what?"

"Or else. Just don't touch it," Kon repeated. The kid smiled mischievously. Then the inevitable occurred.

Within a few seconds, Kon found himself chasing the kid around in a mad rage.

"Give it back, brat!"

"Make me!"

Rinrin, Claude, and Nova were no help whatsoever and instead stood at the doorway, laughing at Kon's misfortune.

When Rukia eventually walked on the scene a moment later, she found, to her great amusement, Kon and the kid in a fierce tug of war match with the stuffed lion.

"Let go, you're going to rip it!"

"Then _you_ let go!"

"_You_ let go, brat!"

Rukia cleared her throat, catching both of their attentions. The kid immediately released the stuffed lion, causing Kon to fall to the floor in surprise. After a brief moment of confusion, Kon recovered, caught sight of Rukia, and launched himself happily at the shinigami.

"Neeeee-saaaaaaan!"

Abruptly, Kon found himself on the floor, Rukia's foot on the back of his head pressing his face into the floor. His next words were muffled. "So cruel, Nee-san!"

She smirked at him. "You haven't changed a bit, Kon." She turned her attention to the kid, who was observing Kon's situation with wide-eyed curiosity. "Urahara-san would like to talk with you for a while."

The kid nodded and silently left the room, giving Kon one last backwards glance before heading back to the main shop.

Rukia removed her foot from Kon's head, letting him get up again. "What were you doing?" she asked with obvious amusement.

Kon scowled. "What do you think? The brat stole me; I had to get me back!"

"It sure took you a while to catch him, mister super-enhanced leg strength!" Rinrin teased as the other three mod-souls entered the room.

"Maybe you didn't notice, baka, but the kid was using shunpo," Kon deadpanned. "What kid from the Rukongai can use shunpo?"

Rukia smirked. "A very special Rukongai kid."

Kon rolled his eyes. "Secret, right? That's what he said."

"Correct." Rukia confirmed. "But considering he might be spending a lot of his time around here, the four of you should be told, but this does not go beyond these walls."

"Like who are we going to tell," Kon scoffed, and then the rest of her words registered in the teenager's mind. "Wait, you're actually going to tell us?"

"Mmhmm." Rukia turned away, folding her arms and looking smug. "So how did you like your first conversation with Kurosaki Ichigo in two years?"

All four mod-souls gaped at her. One by one, things began to click in Kon's head. Orange hair, allowed through the shop's barriers, didn't use honorifics with Ichigo's name, knew about mod-souls, used shunpo...

Kon stood, a vein throbbing on his forehead. "I'm going to kill him."

**xXx**

Ichigo and Urahara were seated at a low table. The man in the funny hat sat silent for a moment, examining the boy across from him with interest. "Tell me as much as you remember from your life before Rukongai."

Ichigo frowned at him. "Nothing, at least when I _try_ to remember. When I'm not paying attention, random facts pop up. Like, I accidentally called Kon a mod-soul earlier, but I've no idea what that is..."

Urahara nodded, thinking this over. "What about when you first arrived in Rukongai?"

"Dunno. I was confused at first, but people just told me that losing most or all of your memories when coming to Rukongai is normal." Ichigo said.

"That is true," Urahara mused. "When a soul comes to Soul Society, young souls are left how they are and they lose little to none of their memories, while older souls are reset. The older they were, the less they remember their previous lives..."

"That's what Rukia-taichou said, but if you all knew that, then why is everyone so surprised that I'm little?" Ichigo asked, confused.

Urahara shook his head. "You had come to Soul Society before. Not only that, you were also a captain who came to and from Soul Society often. Technically, when you became a shinigami, your physical body died and you simply possessed it after that. So I suppose we all assumed that since you didn't get reset every time you came to Soul Society before, that you had no real connection to your body anymore and therefore wouldn't be reset when returning to Soul Society after its death..."

"Oh. Then why-"

Ichigo's question was interrupted by a slight commotion outside the door leading to the back room. The sound was immediately followed by Kon bursting through the door.

Rukia close behind him, yelling, "Kon, don't!"

Kon ignored her, pointing at Ichigo. "Are you _really_ Ichigo?" he demanded.

Ichigo scowled at him. "How am I supposed to answer that?" he shot back. "What would you do if someone randomly came up to you and asked, 'Are you _really_ Kon'?"

Kon let out a noise of irritation. "You know what I mean, brat. Are you really _that_ Ichigo?"

"That's what everyone keeps telling me," Ichigo said in slight exasperation. The same questions were getting really old by now.

"Then why didn't you-"

Without warning, the main door to the shop slammed open and something large launched itself at Ichigo's head, emitting a loud scream. Caught completely off guard, Ichigo instinctively dodged to one side, grabbed a hold of the thing's legs, and slammed it forcefully into the ground.

It was at that point that Ichigo realized that the thing was a person.

"Twelve-years-old and I still have nothing left to teach you!" the man sobbed. Ichigo couldn't tell if it was from sadness or joy.

Ichigo stared at him. "Who are you?"

This made the man sob harder, this time it was definitely sadness. "My only son has forgotten me!"

Two girls entered the shop right behind the man. The one with darker hair took one look at the man collapsed on the floor and gave an irritated sigh. Hitting the old man over the head, she yelled, "Knock it off, you _knew_ he wouldn't remember you!"

He bawled. "Why must my daughter be so violent? Nobody has any respect for me any more!"

"Nobody ever _had_ any respect for you!" the girl shot at him, twitching.

The other girl turned to Ichigo apologetically. "Don't mind them. I'm Yuzu. This is Karin. We're your sisters. And that's our dad."

Ichigo stared around at all of them. He didn't know a single one of them, but apparently, this was his family...

Quietly, he asked, "Is he always this crazy, or just right now?"

Karin scowled. "He's always this crazy," she confirmed. "And sometimes worse."

"Hey, I can be very serious at times," his dad protested.

Urahara interrupted the argument before it could begin. "So how much were you three told?"

"Not much," Karin said with a frown. "Just, 'hey, your older brother was found, except that he's now your little brother, and he doesn't remember anything,' so nothing informative. What happened?"

Urahara began explaining his theory that Ichigo had been reset. Ichigo turned back to where Kon had been standing, only to realize that the teen was no longer there or anywhere else in the room.

Looking around curiously, he tugged on Rukia's sleeve. "Where'd Kon go?" he whispered so as not to interrupt the other conversation.

Rukia-taichou smirked. "He left in a hurry. He's scared of Yuzu."

Ichigo blinked, glancing over at his supposed sister. There was nothing particularly threatening about her... In fact, of everybody here, she seemed to be the_ least_ scary... He turned back to Rukia. "Why?"

"I'll explain later," she promised.

Urahara finished his explanation. "So the main problem is that little to no research has been done on exactly how people lose their memories when they're reset. If it was a total memory wipe, then there's really nothing we can do. However, if it simply blocks access to memories, we just have to figure out how to remove the block."

"Considering he can still remember random facts about things, it's likely the memories are just blocked," Rukia commented.

Urahara nodded. "Even then, though, it's still possible that some of his memories got wiped... It'll be impossible to tell how many until we figure out how to remove the block."

"How are we going to do that if nobody's ever done research on memories before?" Karin complained.

"Trial and error," Urahara said. "One thing that may be important to note is that Kurosaki-san has always typically performed best under pressure. He does things because he has to, not because he wants to. Likewise, he now appears to have the most access to what little memory he has whenever he's not thinking about it, especially when he needs it."

Rukia-taichou nodded. "Like suddenly remembering how to shunpo," she added.

Ichigo blinked at her. "What's shunpo?"

"The moving really fast thing."

"Oh."

Urahara-san nodded. "Which proves again, he doesn't exactly remember _how_ to do things or what they're called; he just does them."

"That's not necessarily because of this memory problem, though," Rukia-taichou pointed out. "When he was first learning this stuff, he did the exact same thing. He just did stuff suddenly, like standing on air, or sensing spirit threads, and even his Getsuga Tenshou attack, and then he learned the names and techniques later..."

"True..." Urahara agreed, waving his fan in front of his thoughtful expression.

Yuzu frowned. "Doesn't that mean that he might actually _not_ remember things, and that he'll have to be re-taught everything?"

Urahara shook his head. "No, he does keep remembering random information about people. Again, that means that at least some of his memories are still in there somewhere. It's just a matter of finding out how many of them, and how to get them."

"So what do you plan on doing?" Ichigo's dad wanted to know.

"Well, I do want to know how much of his shinigami abilities he has retained. Obviously, asking him about them won't help, because if he tries to think about it, they'll be blocked. So for now I'm just wanting to set up some targets in the underground training area, give him a sword, and see what he does with it," Urahara suggested.

Rukia nodded. "I'm all right with that, as long there's no actual battles with people. Kenpachi tried that earlier and it didn't work so well."

Ichigo turned slightly red. "Well, he was _big_." he defended himself. "And _scary_. And a _captain_."

Rukia laughed. "True. But don't let any of the captains scare you. To be honest, I think you could probably still beat most of them even like this."

Ichigo looked doubtful at this.

Urahara smiled. "Well, we'll soon see. Follow me, everyone!"

With that, Urahara stood and began to lead the small group to another part of the store.

Following the man doubtfully, Ichigo couldn't really say that he was fond of the creepy smile the odd shopkeeper had hidden behind his fan.

**Words: Ano - Um; Taichou - Captain; Nee-san - term of endearment, usually for older sisters;Baka - Idiot/Fool/Stupid **

**Just a note, Yuzu can now see spirits. I would assume she would eventually be able to do that after living several years with three spiritually aware people. Yuzu and Karin would be around 19 years old since Ichigo disappeared around when he was 23.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	5. Chapter 4: Rediscovery

**So I'm back with another chapter for all of you who have been so patiently waiting. Just to let you guys know, this story is not my first priority since I started my Percy Jackson one first, but don't worry I'm still writing. Just don't be surprised when it takes me a few weeks to update. **

**Answers to reviews:**

**Ppsh: **I mentioned the age thingy at the beginning of the story, but I guess you didn't catch it or I wasn't clear. This is slightly AU were Ichigo had lived several years after the defeat of Aizen with his shinigami powers and as a captain. With 8 or so years between him gaining his powers and his death and then the added two years of his disappearance, Yuzu and Karin would now be about 19-years-old. I hope that clears things up.

**Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: **Yep, it is kinda fun to recreate this story, but I have to admit that I'm looking forward to the time when I get to write this story for real. Thanks again for the review.

**Daricio: **Thanks for reviewing! I wasn't sure if you were reading this story, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw your review. My updates are not frequent, but I'm still writing . I forget the exact reason of why I changed the age, but I think that it was because it would be easier for me to write because I don't think I portray really little kids that well, but also it would fit better into later parts of the story. I have enjoyed the editing this story (no offense to your original), but I have to admit that I'm looking forward to when I eventually start writing this for real

**Mel72000: **Yeah, Urahara can be super creepy sometimes, but I think clown-face is creepier…

**Kurosaki Crystal: **Wow, four reviews in a row for each chapter… Thanks for all your support!

**Fangirl 15: **Finally updating! Yay! Enjoy reading.

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything since I don't even have a job… **

**Chapter 4 - Rediscovery**

When they all reached the bottom of the ladder, Ichigo was able to get a good look at the new surroundings. He knew that he should probably be shocked at just how big it was, especially since the ceiling to the place seemed to have been _painted_ even, but with Urahara yelling about how surprising it, the boy was less inclined to make any comment.

"Nova!" Urahara called suddenly. A moment later, a ninja-like red-haired boy appeared in a red light. "Could you set up some targets for Ichigo?"

Nova nodded, disappearing again. Red light flashed several times around the large training area, and in their wake, large red and white hollow-shaped targets were left. Ichigo blinked, trying to figure out who this Nova was and how the targets were getting there. He decided not to ask.

"Okay, Ichigo," Urahara said cheerfully. He produced a sword from seemingly nowhere and handed it to the boy, hilt first. "For now, just go knock down as many of the targets as you can."

Ichigo looked dubiously at the sword before taking it in his hand. Immediately, the unfamiliar sword felt awkward and out of place in young hands. He gave it an experimental swing and then looked it over. "Whose sword is this?"

"It's just a nameless zanpakuto," Urahara answered. "They're given to students of the Shinigami Academy to use before they reach gain their own zanpakuto."

"Oh. It's too light," Ichigo complained.

Urahara nodded. "Understandable that you would think that, Ichigo, but you'll be using that one until you can release your own again. Go ahead and knock down some targets."

"Okay..." Ichigo was feeling very self conscious trying something he'd never done. As far as he could remember, he had never held a weapon; the closest thing had been when he had stolen Takeo's stick for a few hours. Now these people were probably expecting him to do it perfectly.

Slowly, he approached the nearest target and swung at it. He'd swung too hard. The sword knocked the target down, then ricocheted back and he nearly dropped it in surprise. Ducking his head in embarrassment, he glared at it.

"It's too light!" He called back to Urahara again.

"Then summon yours!" Urahara said cheerfully.

Now Ichigo glared at him. "How?"

"Don't think about it, just do it!"

"That's really helpful," Ichigo complained. He turned to the next target and used the fast step that Rukia-taichou called shunpo to get up close to it, swinging the nameless sword at it.

Once again, he overbalanced, almost falling over completely. Growling in irritation, he dug the blade of the sword into the ground and left it there.

_I want _my_ sword! _Ichigo shouted mentally.

The response was almost immediate as the boy felt the presence of the old man shift almost painfully. _Then say my name!_ the spirit called out.

"Zangetsu!" Ichigo cried, holding his hands out as if gripping a hilt. Immediately, it materialized; a giant sword, taller than he was, with a black blade, no hand guard, and a white hilt wrap.

Caught off-guard, Ichigo stumbled with the sudden weight in his hand. Turning red from embarrassment, Ichigo slowly picked himself up off the ground, hauling Zangetsu up with both hands and laying it at a resting position over one shoulder.

He turned back to face Urahara and the others. They were looking at him and his sword with varying degrees of surprise and amusement.

"I didn't expect him to get it so fast," Karin commented.

Yuzu hid a grin behind one hand. "I kind of expected the sword to get a little smaller, though. He can barely lift it!"

Urahara smiled widely. "Actually, I think it _did_ get smaller. There's only so much smaller a sword like that can get, you know..."

Ichigo scowled at them. "You're making fun of me," he accused.

They all hurriedly exclaimed that they weren't. It wasn't a good idea to tick off a kid with a giant sword...

"On the contrary, Ichigo, we are glad to see you remember this," Urahara assured him. "Now we just have to see how far your memories of your sword extend. Knock down a few targets."

Ichigo nodded firmly. Zangetsu was quite a bit heavier than he'd expected, but it was _his_ sword, and he would get used to it. He turned and flash stepped towards the nearest target, slicing it cleanly in half. He overbalanced slightly from the weight, but quickly caught himself and jumped at the next target.

One down. And another. And another. Slowly, with each target, his balance improved as he got used to the weight of the sword.

Finally, there was only one target left, perched way up on one of the tallest boulders in the room. Ichigo scowled at it. Climbing up to it would be difficult, but that wasn't what made him hesitate. There was something else.

He lifted Zangetsu high above his head, still focused on the target high above him. Ichigo felt his spiritual energy rise and pour into the extended sword. Zangetsu seemed to be humming, its own energy fluctuating in beat with the sudden increase of available energy. Not even hesitating to think, Ichigo slammed down his sword and a wave of energy cut through the ground heading straight for the target.

Seconds later, Ichigo blinked at the receding dust as it revealed at enormous gash that scarred the trainings grounds and left no evidence of the once-standing target.

The sound of clapping made Ichigo turn around, and he caught sight of Urahara with a crazy grin on his face. "He remembers Getsuga Tenshou, too. Very nice. And he's still standing, which means his reiatsu level hasn't gone down from what it used to be."

"Getsuga Tenshou?" Ichigo asked, turning back to observe the mass damage he had just caused. "Is that what it's called?"

"Yup!" Urahara looked pleased, waving his white fan at him. "Come back over here; I'll get Nova to set up some more difficult targets for you."

Ichigo laid Zangetsu across his shoulder, trying not to stumble under the weight, and walked back over. "More difficult, how?"

"I was thinking of some moving targets, actually," Urahara answered amiably. Nova nodded and vanished in a cloud of red.

While Nova set up the targets, Urahara turned to Rukia. "Rukia-san, I have a request."

She looked at him suspiciously. "You want to try actually fighting with him, right?"

"I can't think of a better way to see if he still has his bankai," Urahara confirmed. "He does the things he remembers whenever he needs to, and there's no way he would _need_ his bankai to knock down targets, no matter how fast I get them moving."

Rukia shook her head. "There's no reason for him to need bankai right now," she reminded him. "Even if you want to see if he still has it. I don't want to force too many things on him at once. It was bad enough the first time you trained him."

"What if you were the one sparring with him?" Urahara asked. "You've trained with him before, you know him well enough to tell when he's reaching his limits, right?"

She sighed. "Not really. He never really _had_ limits before."

"But you would know better than anyone else," Urahara reasoned.

"That's really not my call to make. I don't want to force this on him."

Ichigo looked from one to the other before speaking up suddenly. "Oi! Don't I get a say in this!" When the two turned to look down at him, he scowled and continued stubbornly. "I want to remember and if fighting is the quickest way…"

He could feel old man Zangetsu's approval at this, while on the other side of his mind, Shiro almost seemed to be sulking, for some reason... It made Ichigo hesitate again when he remembered his other self's obvious dislike towards the older him, but he didn't back down.

Rukia watched him carefully and then sighed, smiling slightly. "You never change. You're always so stubborn, Strawberry."

Ichigo scowled at her. "Don't call me that, Midget."

Karin and Yuzu both cracked up. Ichigo eyes widened and he turned red as he realized just how he had automatically reacted to her sudden comment.

Rukia looked shocked for a moment, then smirked, laughing slightly. "Sorry, Ichigo, that one's not going to work any more." She placed a hand on his head to demonstrate just how much taller she was than him.

He growled softly, hating the heat that rose in his cheeks, but he grunted a "Sorry."

She shook her head, still laughing. "No, no. It's not bad, it's just... You always called me that before, but it sounds weird coming from such a _small_ you. It's cute."

He scowled again. "I'm not cute," he insisted. All three girls just grinned.

Isshin clapped his son hard on the back suddenly, almost making him fall over. "Sorry, son, but it's true. You are cute."

Ichigo's scowl deepened.

Urahara smiled widely, hiding half of his face behind his fan. "Well, let's get back to work. Ichigo, see if you can hit the moving targets that Nova set up, and when you're done with that, you and Rukia-san can have a short sparring match."

Ichigo nodded and stalked sullenly off, still irritated at the "cute" comments.

The targets appeared to be hung at intervals on three moving conveyer belts around the large room.

Ichigo didn't feel like figuring out how to knock them all down the _right_ way, so instead he simply raised Zangetsu high in the air and brought it down in a slash. "Getsuga Tenshou!"

The resulting blue wave of energy blasted through the whole first row of targets, then doubled around and cut through the next, then the next before dying out.

Ichigo scowled. He'd missed one. Flash-stepping towards it, he easily sliced it in two before turning back to the group. "_Not_ cute," he emphasized.

They readily agreed, but lips still twitched upwards in badly hidden amusement.

Urahara clapped. "All right, then," he exclaimed cheerfully. "Rukia-san, are you ready?"

Rukia frowned and drew her sword. Ichigo determinedly lifted Zangetsu in preparation, not giving away any of his nervousness. "I'm ready!" he called.

There was a moment of brief hesitation before Rukia finally nodded. The two of them leapt towards each other, and the match began.

**Rukia's POV**

Urahara whistled in appreciation as Rukia slowly pulled herself up off the ground. He helped her up, then turned and grinned at the orange-haired boy, who was now currently curled up on the ground, fast asleep, holding Zangetsu protectively.

"He held his own fairly well, I'd say!" Urahara said happily.

Rukia frowned, breathing hard. "At first, I held back because I didn't want to hurt him..."

"He sure didn't let you hold back, though, did he?" Isshin said proudly, puffing his chest out with pride. Karin shook her head but didn't make any comment.

Urahara smiled and, carefully prying the sword from the boy's strong grip and gave him a certain small plush toy to hold instead. Ichigo sighed in his sleep and cuddled the stuffed lion.

"I almost forgot I was fighting a child," Rukia admitted, wiping her brow in exhaustion. "It was just like training with him, before..."

Yuzu grinned. "He looks so cute in that outfit," she gushed.

Rukia laughed. "I never thought I'd hear someone describe his bankai outfit as being cute, and yet I have to admit, you're right—What are you _doing?_" The last part came out almost as a screech as the captain caught sight of Urahara positioned over Ichigo's sleeping form with Zangetsu pointed downward at the child.

Before anyone could react, Urahara plunged the sword straight down. Rukia leapt towards the two figures but was temporarily blinded by a bright light. When the brilliant flash dissipated, Rukia leapt forward again and drove her foot into Urahara's face.

Urahara immediately crumpled under the attack, and Rukia would have gladly given him more, but concern for Ichigo became the priority. She whirled around to rush to his side only to find Ichigo perfectly fine and still sleeping.

"What?" Rukia asked in confusion.

Urahara had been groaning on the ground, but after hearing Rukia speak, he stood up, completely fine, and walked over to her.

"I resealed Zangetsu inside his soul. He won't need it as a child and it'll be highly suspicious if you go back to the Soul Society carrying that particular weapon with you," Urahara explained.

Rukia watched Isshin come over and pick up his son before saying, "I guess that makes sense." She paused and shot an angry glance at the shopkeeper. "But you could have warned us that you were doing that."

Urahara shrugged and brought out his fan again to cover that stupid grin on his face. "I'm just glad it's been proven that he still has his bankai. That probably means he still has his Vaizard abilities, too. Though there's no good way to test that, and I wouldn't force it on him anyway..."

Now Rukia hesitated. "So have you come up with a plan for getting his memories back, yet?"

Urahara shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. The plans we make really depend on how exactly his memory is functioning at the moment. I think I have that fairly well figured out, if you'd care to hear it, but it's kind of a long explanation."

Rukia nodded. "Let's go up to the shop first." The rest agreed with this and they all climbed up the ladder, while Isshin followed more slowly with Ichigo carefully held in one arm.

After placing Ichigo on a futon in a back room, everyone gathered around Urahara's table and awaited his explanation.

"All right. How much do you know about how memory works?" Urahara asked.

"Not much," Rukia admitted. "It's never exactly been a necessary thing to know."

Urahara nodded. "Okay, then I'll start with some basics. Every person has two kinds of memory; short term memory and long term memory.

"Ichigo's short term memory is working fine, so we don't really need to go into that. Long term memory is what we're mainly going to focus on here. It is divided into two parts: declarative memory and implicit memory.

"Implicit memory is anything you remember unconsciously, without thinking about it. Part of this is procedural memories, or memories of how to do things."

Yuzu frowned. "So, you mean things like how to walk, how to speak, how to write..."

"Exactly," Urahara nodded in agreement. "Even complicated things, like how to activate your sword abilities. Anything you can do without having to think about each individual step. It can also include habits; stances you take while fighting-"

"Or, apparently, instinctive reactions to insults," Rukia murmured with some amusement.

"Right. Instinct is a good description of it, really." Urahara smiled. "Now, as you've just noted, Ichigo's implicit memories seem to have been completely unaffected. He still remembers how to walk, talk, how to use shunpo and other abilities, and he still retains other certain habits. He may not know why he does these things, or how and when he learned them, but he does remember them, and can do them—if he doesn't think about them."

Karin thought about this for a moment and then spoke up, "All right, so that means that the part that's messed up for him is the other part of long term memory that you mentioned?"

Urahara nodded again. "Right. The Declarative memory—or conscious memory—is further divided into two parts: semantic memories and episodic memories."

"And then it gets complicated again!" she complained with a sigh.

He smiled understandingly. "The human psyche is a complex thing, Yuzu-chan. I'm sorry; I'm trying to make this as simple as I can."

"I know," she sighed again. "Karin-chan, are you understanding this?"

Karin nodded. "For the most part. So, okay, two parts of the second part of long term memory. What are they?"

Urahara nodded and continued. "Semantic memories are your memories of facts. Tokyo is the capital of Japan; Yamamoto is the sou-taichou of the Gotei 13, and so on."

"But this part of his memory still works too, doesn't it?" Rukia said, one eyebrow raised. "He remembered that Kon was a mod soul and other various things..."

"Well, Ichigo's memories of facts from his previous life are obviously still there, but he can't access them readily. It's as if a filter of some sort is in place there, blocking most, but letting some through..." Urahara explained.

The others nodded and waited for him to continue.

"Now, the worst part of the block seems to be in Ichigo's episodic memory—the memory of events. Ichigo's episodic memories are either completely blocked, or completely wiped. Either way, he has no access to them. It's possible that the problem here, and in his memory of facts, are both caused by the same thing, but that's just a guess."

Urahara paused for a moment. "So, those are the basic facts of this problem. Any questions?"

Karin spoke up. "What does this mean for Ichi-nii?"

"A good question," Urahara returned. "I've a few ideas, but I'd like input. Suggestions, anyone?"

"We need to figure out how to remove this block on his memories, obviously," Rukia mused.

Urahara shook his head. "Not necessarily. We don't really want to remove it all at once."

Rukia blinked at him. "Why not?"

"See, here's where things get a little shaky. Ichigo has lost his past memories, but he still has the ability to form new memories and can readily access them; there is no filter or block of any kind, and so he remembers clearly not only every event that has happened to him since he arrived in Rukongai, but also every fact about his old life that he's been told or that gets through the filter. It's almost as if his mind has formed a new portion of long term memory altogether, a second Declarative section."

Karin frowned. "Okay. So?"

"Think about it. Each of those two sections, new and old, contain a completely different set of memories, and Ichigo has formed different personalities around each memory set that conform to how he has viewed the world.

"In his old set of memories, he was a fighter who didn't like authority, because of how he had been raised. In his new memories, he spent two years growing up in Rukongai, where he learned to fear the Shinigami, among various other things. Hence, his personality, while still being recognizably Ichigo due to his habits and instincts from before, has also been modified to fit his new perceptions.

"Because of this, even if we could lift the block on his first set of Declarative memories all at once, we wouldn't want to. The two personalities he's developed from each set of memories would clash with each other and fight for control. The sudden barrage of twenty or so year's worth of memories in a single sitting would also be hugely damaging to his psyche. Between the two effects, he could potentially go insane."

"That's a comforting thought," Karin muttered sarcastically.

Rukia shook her head in confusion. "So if we're not going to get rid of the block, then how...?"

"You misunderstand," Urahara said. "We do need to lift the block somehow."

Yuzu blinked. "But you just said it would make him..."

Urahara shook his head. "If the block lifts a little at a time, he should be fine. His old memories can slowly add themselves to his new ones, and he can cope with them little by little; his new personality can modify itself back to his old one."

"So, how do we go about removing the block just a little at a time, then?" Isshin asked seriously.

"Well, for one thing, we need to keep him somewhere familiar to him. The more new memories he establishes here, the less he will focus on his old memories, and he may end up forgetting them entirely. We need to keep him in familiar places and situations, with familiar people, to try and force his mind to try to connect to his older memories."

"You're sure that will work?" Karin asked dubiously.

"It's been working already," Urahara pointed out. "Random facts keep leaking through the block as he comes into contact with things of his past. When they do, they add themselves to his new memories."

Rukia frowned. "So we keep him around the places he knew? That's easier said than done. Staying in the real world is out of the question. He's a spirit now, and even if he got a gigai, people would ask questions."

Urahara nodded. "That's the main problem I've run into. Even in Soul Society, you can't take him to the parts of Seireitei that he spent the most time in. He's too young to blend in among the Shinigami, and the Sou-taichou told you to keep him low profile."

"I wouldn't say that living in the real world is out of the question for him," Isshin put in indignantly. "I raised him once, I can do it again. I can't think of a more familiar place for him than home."

Rukia shook her head. "And then what? Send him to school? Familiar people more than familiar places would be more important, and all of his friends in the real world have changed in two years. Some have even moved out of Karakura. Soul Society would be more stable for him."

"Urahara just said you won't be able to have him in familiar places in Soul Society!" Isshin argued. "His friends there won't have changed, perhaps, but he wouldn't be able to spend time with them. There, he'll be in an unfamiliar place and with unfamiliar people!"

"Not necessarily," Yuzu pointed out. "If he were living in Soul Society, you could at least take him on trips into Seireitei occasionally to talk to people. You couldn't do that as easily if he was staying here."

Karin nodded agreement. "And anyway, here might not be so familiar for him anyway. He hadn't been living with dad anymore before he disappeared, and Yuzu-chan and I moved out too, so staying with dad without us would be unfamiliar to him."

Isshin burst into fake tears. "My daughters are rejecting me again!"

Karin hit him. "We're just talking logic, you idiot! Soul Society's better for him!"

"What if he were to live in the Kuchiki household?" Urahara suggested suddenly, a look of contemplation on his face.

Rukia looked shocked. "Wait, what? Byakuya-niisama would never approve; he's never liked Ichigo."

"But it would make a good cover story," Urahara pointed out thoughtfully. "Kuchiki Rukia-taichou, distraught on the anniversary of Kurosaki Ichigo's disappearance, finds an orange-haired child in Rukongai and decides to take him in, in memory of Ichigo."

Rukia scowled at the suggestion. "Byakuya-niisama would never approve," she repeated.

Urahara smiled. "I'll talk him into it," he promised. "What do _you_ think about it?"

"I..." Rukia hesitated. "I'm not sure. I guess it would work, and I'm certainly not opposed to having him around..."

Karin smirked. "Maybe you could get him temporarily adopted into the Kuchiki clan, even. It'd help his cover story; then you could take him into Seireitei to interact with people under the premise of training him to be a Kuchiki."

"That's a little too far," Rukia protested. "Byakuya-niisama _definitely_ wouldn't approve, and neither would the rest of the Kuchiki elders."

"But wouldn't it be cool?" Yuzu giggled. "He'd be Kuchiki Ichigo for a while."

Rukia groaned, just imagining what Byakuya's reaction to the suggestion might be.

Urahara grinned, flipping open his ever present white fan. "Well, we don't need to decide all this now. For now, though, you should probably take him back to Soul Society. There's really nothing else I can do for him here. Even if Byakuya-san doesn't approve in the long run, you can at least take him there for tonight, correct?"

"I suppose," Rukia relented.

"Then it's agreed!" Urahara exclaimed as Isshin pouted in a corner.

Rukia sighed. "All right, then. I'll go get Ichigo." She stood and headed for the back room where they'd left him.

She walked in on an odd yet amusing sight. Ichigo, still fast asleep, was refusing to let go of the plushy that Urahara had given him and Kon, kneeling next to the child, strained to pull it out of his grip.

"I don't think he's going to let go," Rukia noted with a laugh.

Kon let out a cry of irritation, releasing the plushie and scowling at Ichigo. "How did he _get_ that again?" he demanded.

"Shhh, don't wake him up," Rukia directed. "Urahara-san gave it to him."

Kon growled. "That no good... Why does he always do this to me?"

Rukia laughed again. "Which one? Ichigo, or Urahara-san?"

"Both!" Kon sighed. "What happened to him, anyway? I couldn't make out everything you guys were talking about from out here..."

"Urahara-san thinks he got reset," Rukia said simply, not feeling like explaining fully. "I'll have someone send your plushy back here tomorrow; I'm taking him back to Soul Society now."

Kon blinked. "He's not staying here? I thought you said..."

Rukia shook her head. "We've decided that he's going to be staying in Soul Society. We'll probably bring him back here occasionally, though, since Urahara-san will undoubtedly be coming up with things to try to get his memory back."

"...Oh. So that stuff he was saying before, that he couldn't remember things... He was being serious; he wasn't just messing with me?"

"Mmhmm."

Kon frowned. "Now I kinda feel bad for yelling at him."

Rukia just laughed again. "Except that you know that if he did have his memories, he probably _would_ have said it just to mess with you."

"True." Kon glared at the boy, but then sighed and shook his head in amusement. "It's just hard to believe it's really him. I mean, two _years_, and then suddenly _this_?"

"I know what you mean," Rukia said, also sighing as she looked down at Ichigo. She leaned down and picked the boy up carefully, trying not to wake him up. He mumbled something in his sleep and instinctively nestled closer to her.

Kon smirked at him. "I never knew Ichigo when he was this small; it's just odd to see him doing... well, cute little kid things."

Rukia laughed softly and nodded. "I'll see you later, Kon."

Kon nodded. "Sure. Bye, Neesan."

Rukia smiled and turned to leave the room. Kon hesitated, then spoke up again. "Rukia?"

Rukia looked back with a questioning look.

"... Let the kid keep the plushie," Kon said reluctantly, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "It's really his anyway, and maybe it'll, you know, help a little..."

She laughed a little. "I'm sure he'll appreciate it. Thanks, Kon."

Kon shrugged and waved her off. Rukia smiled again and left the room, going back to the main shop.

There, Ichigo's family said their brief—and in Isshin's case emotional—goodbyes, and then Rukia opened the trap door that led to Urahara's basement.

**Yeah, towards the end, I got a little tired with the editing, so it's pretty much identical to Daricio's in the second half. Oh well. I'll be starting my own chapters very soon :D**

**~Bluesky21543**


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